[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 206 (Thursday, December 19, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7224-S7225]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     COMBATING METH AND COCAINE ACT

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I would also like to talk for a moment 
about the legislation we just passed on the appropriations side.
  There were two bills. One focused more on the national security and 
defense side. There are a lot of good things in there for Ohio, 
including the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and also for the Lima 
Tank Plant. Also, much more importantly, it is good for our military--
for our men and women in uniform, who are on the frontlines every day, 
sacrificing for us.
  We have shown through this legislation we just passed that we 
appreciate them. There is not only a pay raise, but also we are 
providing them the equipment and the modern technology they need to be 
able to be successful.
  But I also noticed in the agreement that just passed, the first 
appropriations bill, that there is really important language with 
regard to the drug crisis that we face in this country.
  I see my colleague Sheldon Whitehouse is on the floor. I have worked 
with him over the years on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery 
Act. Now we have a CARA 2.0 bill that we would like to see passed.
  But the bottom line is that this House and Senate and President Obama 
and now President Trump have begun to address this problem in different 
ways over the last 3 or 4 years, and it is beginning to work. We are 
finally beginning to see, with regard to the opioid crisis, some 
success.

[[Page S7225]]

  Recall that the opioid crisis is the worst drug epidemic we have ever 
faced in this country. In 2017, 72,000 Americans lost their lives to 
overdoses. That is more than we lost in the entire Vietnam war. Last 
year, we had a little better number. After 12 years of increases every 
year in overdose deaths, finally, last year, we had a slight decrease, 
and I think it is because of a lot of good work that has been done 
here, particularly with regard to the opioid crisis.
  In Ohio, unfortunately, we have been in the center of the storm. We 
have been one of the top two or three States in the country in terms of 
overdose deaths.
  Last year, in 2018, because of all the hard work we have done here at 
the Federal level, at the State level, and at the local level, we 
actually saw a decrease. We led the country with a 22-percent decrease 
in overdose deaths. So that is the good news, and it is because of the 
Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Act, which is bipartisan and which is 
working to provide more treatment and recovery services, to provide 
better prevention, and to provide more Narcan to reverse the effects of 
overdoses. It is also because of the 21st Century Cures Act, which 
provides funding for evidence-based programs to the States and the 
States decide how it is spent.
  I was back home just this past week meeting with people who are 
getting the benefit of those programs. On Monday, I was at a home in 
Dayton, OH, that provides residential treatment for women who are 
addicted and pregnant and helps their children to be able to overcome 
the neonatal abstinence syndrome when they are born to a mother who is 
using. It is beginning to work.
  I met two mothers who have turned their lives around, and I saw a 
beautiful baby who, at 5 weeks old, is going into the world brighter, 
cheerier, and with more opportunity because of the work that we have 
done here to provide funding to help.
  But I will say we have found, having made progress on opioids, that 
other drugs are starting to come into our communities. This is not just 
an opioid problem. This is an addiction problem, and addiction is a 
disease that must be treated like other diseases.
  Although we have made progress, we can't rest on our laurels. When I 
talk to those on the frontlines, as I did on Monday in Dayton with law 
enforcement--the sheriff was there for Montgomery County--but also to 
treatment providers, to those who are in the trenches, and talking to 
those who are recovering addicts who were there, they tell me about 
what is happening, which is that, increasingly, other drugs, including 
psychostimulants like crystal meth and cocaine, are making a horrible 
comeback in those communities.
  Crystal meth coming in from Mexico is more pure and less expensive 
than ever. In fact, law enforcement tells me that on the streets of 
Columbus, Dayton, Cleveland, or Cincinnati, crystal meth is sometimes 
less expensive than marijuana and yet much more powerful and much more 
dangerous.
  So it is important that here in Congress we focus on how to respond 
to that. Although we have some great legislation out there with regard 
to opioid addiction, treatment, recovery, and how to deal with this, we 
have not done as well with regard to these new drugs coming in.
  Part of the solution, of course, is to build up our security at our 
southern border, where we have seen larger and larger quantities of 
crystal meth, manufactured in Mexico, being brought into our country by 
these cartels from super labs, as they call them, in Mexico.
  By the way, there were crystal meth labs over the years, but the 
volume was not nearly as high, and the cost was much higher. Now that 
it is cheaper and there is higher volume, you see the meth labs in our 
communities closing down, but for the wrong reason. It is not being 
made here anymore because the stuff coming from Mexico is so much more 
pure, more powerful, more deadly, and less expensive.
  So for the people already struggling with methamphetamine or cocaine 
addiction, it is important that they have access to treatment, too, so 
they can get help.
  What I have heard at the local level is this: We appreciate the 
funding on opioids, but we want more flexibility now to be able to use 
this funding to combat what is, in many of our communities, in Ohio, 
even a bigger problem, which is crystal meth and sometimes cocaine.
  So I am pleased to say that in the legislation that we just passed 
here this evening, legislation that provides appropriations to deal 
with this addiction issue, we have provided that flexibility. We have 
said: Yes, we are going to continue to provide grants to help with 
regard to prevention and treatment and recovery and help with regard to 
getting people back on their feet and helping law enforcement, but we 
are going to allow local communities to use this funding both for 
opioids and for crystal meth and other drugs.
  So my hope is that what we will see is some of the same progress we 
have made in opioids now happen with regard to some of these other 
substances.
  I have introduced a bill called the Combating Meth and Cocaine Act--I 
introduced it in June of this year--to allow this kind of flexibility. 
That is an authorization bill that has already been introduced, and we 
have good bipartisan support for that.
  But we went ahead today in these appropriations bill and did it for 
this year. So for this fiscal year, essentially, that legislation will 
be in effect. So for 2020 we are going to provide that flexibility.

  I applaud the Senate appropriators for doing that. Again, I am proud 
of Congress showing that we can be flexible and continue to fight a 
many-front war on this issue. It is not just about opioids. It is about 
addiction.
  We also need to pass the authorization bill, the Combating Meth and 
Cocaine Act, and I hope that we will be able to do that after the first 
of the year to ensure that we can continue to address these public 
health threats and we can continue to provide for those whose future is 
so dim because of the addiction, and instead they be able to achieve 
their God-given purpose in life.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.

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