[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 36 (Monday, February 28, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H1156-H1158]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  METHAMPHETAMINE RESPONSE ACT OF 2021

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (S. 854) to designate methamphetamine as an emerging threat, and 
for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                 S. 854

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Methamphetamine Response Act 
     of 2021''.

     SEC. 2. DECLARATION OF EMERGING THREAT.

       (a) In General.--Congress declares methamphetamine an 
     emerging drug threat, as defined in section 702 of the Office 
     of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 1998 
     (21 U.S.C. 1701), in the United States.
       (b) Required Emerging Threat Response Plan.--Not later than 
     90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director 
     of the Office of National Drug Control Policy shall establish 
     and implement an Emerging Threat Response Plan that is 
     specific to methamphetamine in accordance with section 709(d) 
     of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization 
     Act of 1998 (21 U.S.C. 1708(d)).

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Pallone) and the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Guthrie) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey.


                             General Leave

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on S. 854.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New Jersey?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

[[Page H1157]]

  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 854, the Methamphetamine 
Response Act of 2021.
  Today, our Nation continues to face a devastating epidemic of 
substance use and overdose deaths, an epidemic that has only been 
exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, we have 
surpassed the tragic milestone of 100,000 drug overdose deaths in a 1-
year period.
  Although opioids account for a significant number of overdose deaths, 
methamphetamine overdoses have been rising at alarming rates in recent 
years. Recent data from the National Institutes of Health found that 
methamphetamine overdose deaths nearly tripled from 2015 to 2019.
  Further, the Drug Enforcement Administration reports that 
methamphetamine continues to be readily available throughout the United 
States. In 2019, the DEA seized over 53,000 kilograms of 
methamphetamine. That was a 55 percent increase over 2018. Recent data 
also suggests that seizures of methamphetamine have increased during 
the pandemic. The threat of this drug is compounded by the common 
mixing, or cutting, of drugs, such as cocaine, with methamphetamine.
  To address the widespread availability and the shocking increases in 
methamphetamine-involved overdose deaths, this legislation would 
designate methamphetamine as an emerging drug threat.
  By making this designation, Mr. Speaker, S. 854 would require the 
Office of National Drug Control Policy to implement a methamphetamine 
response plan. As part of this plan, ONDCP and partner agencies would 
develop a comprehensive assessment of the emerging drug threat, 
establish quantifiable goals to combat the threat, implement 
performance measures, and identify the funding levels needed to 
implement the plan.
  The House companion of this bill was considered and passed by the 
Energy and Commerce Committee with bipartisan support in July of last 
year. I commend the sponsors of the House companion, Representatives 
Peters and Curtis, for their leadership.
  This legislation is another step forward in our ongoing efforts to 
end the substance use epidemic that is devastating our families and 
communities.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support S. 854, and I reserve 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 854, the Methamphetamine 
Response Act. The companion version of this bill, H.R. 2051, was led by 
Representatives Peters, Curtis, and Harshbarger in the House.
  Methamphetamine is a highly addictive stimulant that is illicitly 
trafficked throughout the United States. This dangerous substance is 
associated with psychosis, cardiovascular dysfunction, infectious 
disease transmission, and overdose. The Drug Enforcement Administration 
even issued a public safety alert for the first time in 6 years in 
September 2021 warning Americans about the increase in the lethality of 
fake prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine.
  In response to recent trends and alarming increases in 
methamphetamine-involved overdose deaths, S. 854 would designate 
methamphetamine as an emerging drug threat and would direct the Office 
of National Drug Control Policy to develop a methamphetamine response 
plan. The development and the implementation of this plan will help 
coordinate efforts across the Federal Government to more effectively 
address this emerging drug threat.
  I will say, we absolutely have to have this in place, but it stops at 
the source. I was able in early January to go to the border, and I was 
outside of El Paso--actually in New Mexico, but outside of El Paso. The 
Border Patrol agents took me to the point where, on January 20, 2021, 
they ceased building the wall; and they said this is where a lot of the 
drugs are flowing through, and they were talking about meth, and they 
were also talking about fentanyl.
  Fentanyl, as we know, mostly originates in China, but it comes 
through Mexico, so it is just a failure of so many different policies. 
It comes through Mexico and comes across the border. They said because 
of the volume of people coming up through the border without the remain 
in Mexico policy and the wall that it is numbers. If hundreds of people 
are coming, and we can catch 20 percent of them; and you can put 
fentanyl--I know we are talking about methamphetamine, but it comes 
together--you can put fentanyl in a water bottle and bring it through.
  We are doing this bill today, which is great, but if the CR expires 
on March 11, illicit fentanyl and fentanyl analogues will be street-
legal in the United States. This committee needs to bring the HALT 
Fentanyl Act to the floor and permanently ban illicit fentanyl. Seventy 
percent of all overdose deaths in Kentucky in 2020 were from illicit 
fentanyl.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill. This is a serious bill. 
I actually had a sheriff from Nelson County, Kentucky, who was 
visiting, and he said: We can tell the price--because they do the 
controlled buys--in the amount of money I have to use to buy meth, the 
cost, I can tell you what has happened at the border because if it is 
low, it means we are flooded with it because the border is not in 
control, and right now the price is so low, the only thing that my drug 
enforcement officers have said to me is that, well, there is no longer 
any meth labs or many meth labs, if any, in rural Kentucky because so 
much is coming from Mexico it has put them out of business. So they 
don't have to go clean up meth labs as they find them, but it is a 
tough consolation.
  We need to pass this bill, and we also need to pass the HALT Fentanyl 
Act. We need to get control of our southern border to keep these drugs 
from flowing into the country illegally to begin with.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers, and I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I urge support for this bill, which is 
bipartisan, so we can send it to the President. I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 854, the 
``Methamphetamine Response Act of 2021'' which designates 
methamphetamine as an emerging drug threat (a new and growing trend in 
the use of an illicit drug or class of drug).
  It also directs the Office of National Drug Control Policy to 
implement a methamphetamine response plan.
  Methamphetamines are a highly addictive substance that can cause 
considerable health adversities which can sometimes result in death.
  Meth not only changes how the brain works, but also speeds up the 
body's systems to dangerous, sometimes lethal, levels--increasing blood 
pressure and heart and respiratory rates.
  People who repeatedly use meth may also experience anxiety, paranoia, 
aggression, hallucinations, and mood disturbances.
  According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the misuse of 
methamphetamine remains an extremely serious problem in the United 
States.
  In some areas of the country, it poses an even greater threat than 
opioids, and it is the drug that most contributes to violent crime.
  According to data from the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and 
Health (NSDUH), over 14.7 million people (5.4 percent of the 
population) have tried methamphetamine at least once.
  NSDUH also reports that almost 1.6 million people used 
methamphetamine in the year leading up to the survey, and it remains 
one of the most commonly misused stimulant drugs in the world.
  According to a report commissioned by the CDC in 2018, the age-
adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths involving methamphetamine in the 
United States more than tripled from 0.6 per 100,000 population in 2011 
to 2.1 in 2016.
  The rate increased on average by an astounding 29 percent per year.
  Jane Carlisle Maxwell from the University of Texas found in 2021 that 
methamphetamine still outnumbers other drugs in the four drug reporting 
systems, and it continues to increase, a pattern consistent with that 
seen in other states.
  Over the years, the proportion of methamphetamine items seized has 
changed.
  In 2005, methamphetamine represented 21 percent of all items 
identified by DEA laboratories; in 2019, methamphetamine comprised 50 
percent of all the items examined.
  Methamphetamine admissions to treatment programs increased from 3 
percent of all admissions in 1995 to 11 percent in 2007, dropped to 8 
percent in 2009, and then rose to 22 percent of admissions in 2020.
  The race-ethnic composition has changed in terms of Hispanic 
representation.

[[Page H1158]]

  In 1995, 91 percent were White, 2 percent were Black, and 5 percent 
were Hispanic. Of the 2020 admissions, 90 percent were White, 7 percent 
were Black, and 18 percent were Hispanic.
  Forty-one percent of the admissions were ages 26-35.
  In 1994, 59 percent of the clients were male, as compared to 45 
percent male in 2020.
  Based on the results of Maxwell's previous research, females use 
methamphetamine for energy, to lose weight, and to counter depression.
  There is a significant need to consider gender issues in 
methamphetamine treatment, which could certainly be taken into account 
by the Office of National Drug Control Policy in its response plan.
  Additionally, the Office of National Drug Control Policy should make 
treatment for methamphetamine addictions the center of its response 
plan.
  The National Institute on Drug Abuse has found that the most 
effective treatments for methamphetamine addiction at this point are 
behavioral therapies, such as cognitive-behavioral and contingency 
management interventions.
  For example, the Matrix Model--a 16-week comprehensive behavioral 
treatment approach that combines behavioral therapy, family education, 
individual counseling, 12-step support, drug testing, and encouragement 
for non-drug-related activities--has been shown to be effective in 
reducing methamphetamine misuse.
  Contingency management interventions, which provide tangible 
incentives in exchange for engaging in treatment and maintaining 
abstinence from methamphetamines, have also been shown to be effective.
  Motivational Incentives for Enhancing Drug Abuse Recovery (MIEDAR), 
an incentive-based method for promoting cocaine and methamphetamine 
abstinence, has demonstrated efficacy among methamphetamine misusers 
through NIDA's National Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network.
  It is, therefore, clear and obvious that treatment should be the 
center of ONDC's response plan, not incarceration.
  Incarcerating those addicted to drugs has clearly not worked 
considering methamphetamine users continue to use throughout our 
country despite the present criminal penalties.
  This bill is of the utmost importance to me considering the major 
threat methamphetamines pose in Houston.
  The DEA via Operation Crystal Shield, an operation to ramp up 
enforcement to block the further distribution of methamphetamines into 
America's neighborhoods, has designated the city of Houston one of 
eight major transportation hubs for methamphetamines.
  The flow of methamphetamines in Houston is significant, with major 
busts by authorities not being out of the ordinary.
  Just two weeks ago, Click2Houston reported an umpire was arrested 
after authorities say he was in possession of drugs while working 
around children at a youth baseball tournament in the Houston area this 
week.
  When authorities arrived at the scene, deputies say they found 2.7 
grams of crystal meth inside the umpire's vehicle.
  Additionally, in May 2021, authorities seized 1,789 pounds of 
methamphetamines in the north Houston area, as well as large quantities 
of other narcotics.
  According to authorities, the street value of the seizure was 
approximately $3.4 million.
  The city of Houston is under attack, and the belligerent parties are 
drug traffickers and their henchmen.
  They alone are ruining the lives of countless Americans, but this 
bill creates a comprehensive response to ensure that no more lives are 
lost.
  It is for that reason, Mr Speaker, that I am urging my colleagues to 
support the Methamphetamine Response Act of 2021.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, S. 854.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________