[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.
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