[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 24992-25001]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



        HILLORY J. FARIAS DATE-RAPE PREVENTION DRUG ACT OF 1999

  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 2130) to amend the Controlled Substances Act to add gamma 
hydroxybutyric acid and ketamine to the schedules of controlled 
substances, to provide for a national awareness campaign, and for other 
purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 2130

       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 ``Hillory J. Farias Date-Rape 
     Prevention Drug Act of 1999''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       The Congress finds as follows:
       (1) Gamma hydroxybutyric acid (also called G, Liquid X, 
     Liquid Ecstasy, Grievous Bodily Harm, Georgia Home Boy, 
     Scoop) has become a significant and growing problem in law 
     enforcement. At least 20 States have scheduled such drug in 
     their drug laws and law enforcement officials have been 
     experiencing an increased presence of the drug in driving 
     under the influence, sexual assault, and overdose cases, 
     especially at night clubs and parties.
       (2) A behavioral depressant and a hypnotic, gamma 
     hydroxybutyric acid (``GHB'') is being used in conjunction 
     with alcohol and other drugs with detrimental effects in an 
     increasing number of cases. It is difficult to isolate the 
     impact of such drug's ingestion since it is so typically 
     taken with an ever-changing array of other drugs and 
     especially alcohol, which potentiates its impact.
       (3) GHB takes the same path as alcohol, processes via 
     alcohol dehydrogenase, and its symptoms at high levels of 
     intake and as impact builds are comparable to alcohol 
     ingestion/intoxication. Thus, aggression and violence can be 
     expected in some individuals who use such drug.
       (4) If taken for human consumption, common industrial 
     chemicals such as gamma butyrolactone and 1.4-butanediol are 
     swiftly converted by the body into GHB. Illicit use of these 
     and other GHB analogues and precursor chemicals is a 
     significant and growing law enforcement problem.
       (5) A human pharmaceutical formulation of gamma 
     hydroxybutyric acid is being developed as a treatment for 
     cataplexy, a serious and debilitating disease. Cataplexy, 
     which causes sudden and total loss of muscle control, affects 
     about 65 percent of the estimated 180,000 Americans with 
     narcolepsy, a sleep disorder. People with cataplexy often are 
     unable to work, drive a car, hold their children or live a 
     normal life.

     SEC. 3. ADDITION OF GAMMA HYDROXYBUTYRIC ACID AND KETAMINE TO 
                   SCHEDULES OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES; GAMMA 
                   BUTYROLACTONE AS ADDITIONAL LIST I CHEMICAL.

       (a) Addition to Schedule I.--
       (1) In general.--Section 202(c) of the Controlled 
     Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812(c)) is amended by adding at the 
     end of schedule I the following:
       ``(d) Unless specifically excepted or unless listed in 
     another schedule, any material, compound, mixture, or 
     preparation, which contains any quantity of the following 
     substance having a depressant effect on the central nervous 
     system, or which contains any of their salts, isomers, and 
     salts of isomers whenever the existence of such salts, 
     isomers, and salts of isomers is possible within the specific 
     chemical designation:
       ``(1) Gamma hydroxybutyric acid.''.
       (2) Security of facilities.--For purposes of any 
     requirements that relate to the physical security of 
     registered manufacturers and registered distributors, gamma 
     hydroxybutyric acid and its salts, isomers, and salts of 
     isomers manufactured, distributed, or possessed in accordance 
     with an exemption approved under section 505(i) of the 
     Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act shall be treated as a 
     controlled substance in schedule III under section 202(c) of 
     the Controlled Substances Act.
       (b) Addition to Schedule III.--Schedule III under section 
     202(c) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812(c)) is 
     amended in (b)--
       (1) by redesignating (4) through (10) as (6) through (12), 
     respectively;
       (2) by redesignating (3) as (4);
       (3) by inserting after (2) the following:
       ``(3) Gamma hydroxybutyric acid and its salts, isomers, and 
     salts of isomers contained in a drug

[[Page 24993]]

     product for which an application has been approved under 
     section 505 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.''; 
     and
       (4) by inserting after (4) (as so redesignated) the 
     following:
       ``(5) Ketamine and its salts, isomers, and salts of 
     isomers.''.
       (c) Additional List I Chemical.--Section 102(34) of the 
     Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802(34)) is amended--
       (1) by redesignating subparagraph (X) as subparagraph (Y); 
     and
       (2) by inserting after subparagraph (W) the following 
     subparagraph:
       ``(X) Gamma butyrolactone.''.
       (d) Rule of Construction Regarding Controlled Substance 
     Analogues.--Section 102(32) of the Controlled Substances Act 
     (21 U.S.C. 802(32)) is amended--
       (1) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as subparagraph (C); 
     and
       (2) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the following 
     subparagraph:
       ``(B) The designation of gamma butyrolactone or any other 
     chemical as a listed chemical pursuant to paragraph (34) or 
     (35) does not preclude a finding pursuant to subparagraph (A) 
     of this paragraph that the chemical is a controlled substance 
     analogue.''.
       (e) Penalties Regarding Schedule I.--
       (1) In general.--Section 401(b)(1)(C) of the Controlled 
     Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 841(b)(1)(C)) is amended in the 
     first sentence by inserting after ``schedule I or II,'' the 
     following: ``gamma hydroxybutyric acid in schedule III,''.
       (2) Conforming amendment.--Section 401(b)(1)(D) of the 
     Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 841(b)(1)(D)) is amended 
     by inserting ``(other than gamma hydroxybutyric acid)'' after 
     ``schedule III''.
       (f) Distribution With Intent To Commit Crime of Violence.--
     Section 401(b)(7)(A) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 
     U.S.C. 841(b)(7)(A)) is amended by inserting ``or controlled 
     substance analogue'' after ``distributing a controlled 
     substance''.

     SEC. 4. AUTHORITY FOR ADDITIONAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR 
                   GAMMA HYDROXYBUTYRIC PRODUCTS IN SCHEDULE III.

       Section 307 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 
     827) is amended by adding at the end the following:
       ``(h) In the case of a drug product containing gamma 
     hydroxybutyric acid for which an application has been 
     approved under section 505 of the Federal Food, Drug, and 
     Cosmetic Act, the Attorney General may, in addition to any 
     other requirements that apply under this section with respect 
     to such a drug product, establish any of the following as 
     reporting requirements:
       ``(1) That every person who is registered as a manufacturer 
     of bulk or dosage form, as a packager, repackager, labeler, 
     relabeler, or distributor shall report acquisition and 
     distribution transactions quarterly, not later than the 15th 
     day of the month succeeding the quarter for which the report 
     is submitted, and annually report end-of-year inventories.
       ``(2) That all annual inventory reports shall be filed no 
     later than January 15 of the year following that for which 
     the report is submitted and include data on the stocks of the 
     drug product, drug substance, bulk drug, and dosage forms on 
     hand as of the close of business December 31, indicating 
     whether materials reported are in storage or in process of 
     manufacturing.
       ``(3) That every person who is registered as a manufacturer 
     of bulk or dosage form shall report all manufacturing 
     transactions both inventory increases, including purchases, 
     transfers, and returns, and reductions from inventory, 
     including sales, transfers, theft, destruction, and seizure, 
     and shall provide data on material manufactured, manufactured 
     from other material, use in manufacturing other material, and 
     use in manufacturing dosage forms.
       ``(4) That all reports under this section must include the 
     registered person's registration number as well as the 
     registration numbers, names, and other identifying 
     information of vendors, suppliers, and customers, sufficient 
     to allow the Attorney General to track the receipt and 
     distribution of the drug.
       ``(5) That each dispensing practitioner shall maintain for 
     each prescription the name of the prescribing practitioner, 
     the prescribing practitioner's Federal and State registration 
     numbers, with the expiration dates of these registrations, 
     verification that the prescribing practitioner possesses the 
     appropriate registration to prescribe this controlled 
     substance, the patient's name and address, the name of the 
     patient's insurance provider and documentation by a medical 
     practitioner licensed and registered to prescribe the drug of 
     the patient's medical need for the drug. Such information 
     shall be available for inspection and copying by the Attorney 
     General.
       ``(6) That section 310(b)(3) (relating to mail order 
     reporting) applies with respect to gamma hydroxybutyric acid 
     to the same extent and in the same manner as such section 
     applies with respect to the chemicals and drug products 
     specified in subparagraph (A)(i) of such section.''.

     SEC. 5. DEVELOPMENT OF FORENSIC FIELD TESTS FOR GAMMA 
                   HYDROXYBUTYRIC ACID.

       The Attorney General shall make a grant for the development 
     of forensic field tests to assist law enforcement officials 
     in detecting the presence of gamma hydroxybutyric acid and 
     related substances.

     SEC. 6. ANNUAL REPORT REGARDING DATE-RAPE DRUGS; NATIONAL 
                   AWARENESS CAMPAIGN.

       (a) Annual Report.--The Secretary of Health and Human 
     Services (in this section referred to as the ``Secretary'') 
     shall periodically submit to the Congress reports each of 
     which provides an estimate of the number of incidents of the 
     abuse of date-rape drugs (as defined in subsection (c)) that 
     occurred during the most recent one-year period for which 
     data are available. The first such report shall be submitted 
     not later than January 15, 2000, and subsequent reports shall 
     be submitted annually thereafter.
       (b) National Awareness Campaign.--
       (1) Development of plan; recommendations of advisory 
     committee.--
       (A) In general.--The Secretary, in consultation with the 
     Attorney General, shall develop a plan for carrying out a 
     national campaign to educate individuals described in 
     subparagraph (B) on the following:
       (i) The dangers of date-rape drugs.
       (ii) The applicability of the Controlled Substances Act to 
     such drugs, including penalties under such Act.
       (iii) Recognizing the symptoms that indicate an individual 
     may be a victim of such drugs, including symptoms with 
     respect to sexual assault.
       (iv) Appropriately responding when an individual has such 
     symptoms.
       (B) Intended population.--The individuals referred to in 
     subparagraph (A) are young adults, youths, law enforcement 
     personnel, educators, school nurses, counselors of rape 
     victims, and emergency room personnel in hospitals.
       (C) Advisory committee.--Not later than 180 days after the 
     date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 
     establish an advisory committee to make recommendations to 
     the Secretary regarding the plan under subparagraph (A). The 
     committee shall be composed of individuals who collectively 
     possess expertise on the effects of date-rape drugs and on 
     detecting and controlling the drugs.
       (2) Implementation of plan.--Not later than 180 days after 
     the date on which the advisory committee under paragraph (1) 
     is established, the Secretary, in consultation with the 
     Attorney General, shall commence carrying out the national 
     campaign under such paragraph in accordance with the plan 
     developed under such paragraph. The campaign may be carried 
     out directly by the Secretary and through grants and 
     contracts.
       (3) Evaluation by general accounting office.--Not later 
     than two years after the date on which the national campaign 
     under paragraph (1) is commenced, the Comptroller General of 
     the United States shall submit to the Congress an evaluation 
     of the effects with respect to date-rape drugs of the 
     national campaign.
       (c) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term 
     ``date-rape drugs'' means gamma hydroxybutyric acid and its 
     salts, isomers, and salts of isomers and such other drugs or 
     substances as the Secretary, after consultation with the 
     Attorney General, determines to be appropriate.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Upton) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) each will 
control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton).


                             General Leave

  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
on H.R. 2130.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman 
from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) be recognized to control half of my time, or 10 
minutes.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2130. I particularly want to 
appreciate the good work of the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman 
Bliley) and the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Bilirakis), both of 
whom would be here except for subcommittee hearings going on.
  I thank my colleagues, all of the Michigan delegation, and in 
particular, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak) who serves with me 
on the Committee on Commerce, for his diligent work on this effort, and 
the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) for her fine efforts, and 
obviously the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell) as well.
  I also want to compliment Senator Abraham, who has introduced similar 
legislation in the Senate, as well as Chairman Hatch, chairman of the 
Committee on the Judiciary in the Senate, as he has apparently 
indicated that they want to move fairly quickly in the Senate with 
hearings and action over there very soon, perhaps as early as next 
week.

[[Page 24994]]

  Mr. Speaker, I was a relatively new chairman of the Subcommittee on 
Oversight and Investigations in the Committee on Commerce this last 
year. There were two stories in Michigan that prevailed in a major way 
last January.
  One was the terrible cold and snow. The high temperature I think in 
my part of the State was about 20 below for about 1\1/2\ weeks. The 
other story was a very sad story about two teenage women from the 
district of the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell) who went to a 
party and, sadly, someone allegedly laced their soft drinks with a 
date-rape drug called GHB or GBL. One of those women died. It was a 
nightmare, a nightmare that no family wants to experience or get that 
phone call.
  I did not know very much about date rape drugs, and I thought, as the 
new chairman of the subcommittee, that we ought to have a look at it. 
We called a number of witnesses. In fact, we heard from a victim from 
this area, the Washington-Virginia-Maryland area, a woman who at the 
age of 14 or 15 had had her soft drink laced with this same type of 
drug. She was a serious victim of sexual assault. She, thank goodness, 
lived, but it was an experience that no family wants to experience.
  Mr. Speaker, we heard in August from the Kansas City TV station, 
where they thought that perhaps as many as 6,000 or 7,000 cases of date 
rape drugs had happened in the greater Kansas City area, and they were 
very interested in watching this legislation move forward. I heard from 
a mom in Ohio whose daughter's bottled water had been laced with this 
stuff and she was on life support, the daughter.
  As we found out a little bit about this drug, we found that it was 
odorless, colorless, tasteless, and it is virtually available on every 
college campus across the country. We found out that on the Internet, 
virtually anyone with a credit card could get this stuff for as little 
as $20 overnight.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a nightmare that needs to end. We found out that 
because of a number of loopholes in a number of States, these drugs 
were actually legal. They were legitimate. We found out that those 
States would try as hard as they may to try and ban some of these 
drugs. With a simple change in the chemical balance of these drugs, it 
could be made from GHB to GBL to who knows what, and the circumstance 
would be the same.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation that I introduced, along with my 
colleagues, the gentlemen from Michigan, Mr. Stupak and Mr. Dingell, 
the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bliley), and the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), closes the door on these drugs. It makes them 
a Schedule I. It will take it, I hope, off the Internet.
  It will make sure that on college campuses, in high schools across 
the country, that there will be a force that the law enforcement 
agencies will have where they can take this stuff off the street and 
save families from the nightmares that they would otherwise have.
  We heard testimony that perhaps as many as 90 kids have died in the 
last couple of years because of these drugs, and certainly thousands 
and thousands of cases of abuse across the country. In many cases, when 
these kids, women, are brought to the ER rooms, the hospital has no 
idea what might have struck these kids because it is natural, in many 
cases. In many cases these drugs are a naturally-produced substance 
with a relatively short half-life, and without knowing specifically 
what to look for in this stuff, the ER room misses it and perhaps that 
child dies.
  Mr. Speaker, I would urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to yield 10 
minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) for her to 
control on behalf of the Committee on the Judiciary.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume 
to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak), the sponsor of the bill 
who has worked tirelessly on this with the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. 
Jackson-Lee) and the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Stabenow).
  Mr. STUPAK. I thank the gentleman for yielding time to me, Mr. 
Speaker.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2130, the Hillory T. 
Varias Date-Rape Prevention Drug Act of 1999.
  As many of my colleagues know, with my background in law enforcement, 
I have been concerned with the problem of drug abuse and date rape. In 
fact, the first bill that I ever passed in the U.S. Congress in 1993 
was the Chemical Diversion Act of 1993, which wiped out cat or 
methcatadone, as we call it.
  But in addition to this and other efforts, we are here today on H.R. 
2130, as amended. We did a lot of work in committee. We put my 
substitute as the committee bill, and it is a product of a lot of 
compromise worked out by numerous parties in the Committee on Commerce 
and the Committee on the Judiciary to address the concerns and needs of 
both law enforcement and patients.
  By scheduling GHB, we will be giving the Drug Enforcement Agency 
strong controls over the drug and allow them to combat the rampant 
abuse of this drug which we are currently seeing.

                              {time}  1830

  Just a few months ago, five Lake City teenagers were brought into the 
emergency room in convulsions and described as comatose due to the 
overdose of GHB. Even more recently, October 1 of this year, article 
right here about eight Ann Arbor University of Michigan students up in 
the hospital over the weekend because of taking GHB that was slipped 
into their drinks while they were out partying in Ann Arbor.
  Not only in Michigan, Mr. Speaker, but all over the country this drug 
is spreading in popularity. I know my colleague, from the gentleman 
from Michigan (Mr. Upton), estimated 90 people. Even modest estimates 
put it at 32 people have died from exposure to this drug, most of them 
because it has been dangerously mixed with alcohol.
  Countless others have overdosed or suffered rape as a result of this 
unpredictable and uncontrolled substance. Furthermore, GHB is one of 
the first drugs in which the recipe for manufacture at home was widely 
available over the Internet. People were literally cooking up the drug 
in their house by obtaining the ingredients and instructions over the 
Internet.
  H.R. 2130 addressed this issue by requiring tracking and reporting of 
possible misuse of GBL and other precursor chemicals.
  Finally, the bill requires the Department of Justice to develop a 
forensic test to aid law enforcement officials in determining when GHB 
or a GHB-related compound is involved in a criminal activity. This will 
be helpful to law enforcement officials who currently have no way of 
determining GHB's involvement in a crime or situation without 
laboratory testing.
  This bill also recognizes that well-designed legislative efforts 
should not throw out the baby with the bath water, so to speak. By 
this, I mean that the abusive use of GHB we have been focusing on 
should not prevent possible legitimate or beneficial uses of this drug. 
For example, GHB has shown considerable promise for the treatment of 
narcolepsy. Specifically, this drug could benefit the approximately 
30,000 people who suffer from a form of cataplexy or a sudden loss of 
muscle control.
  Good public policy recognizes these patients and the important 
research which is being done attempting to address their serious 
medical concerns.
  H.R. 2130 places GHB into Schedule I; but when it is approved by the 
FDA for medical use, it will then move to a Schedule III with Schedule 
I criminal penalties. It allows an exemption from the security 
requirements imposed for Schedule I controlled substances, which will 
allow the manufacturers of medical-grade GHB to continue their research 
without the need to construct an expensive vault for storage of the 
product.
  This bill also allows patients to receive their drugs directly from 
the

[[Page 24995]]

manufacturer, because it places a medically-approved GHB drug 
automatically into Schedule III.
  Mr. Speaker, a lot of work has gone into reaching this bipartisan 
legislation. I want to thank the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-
Lee) for her work on this issue. I want to thank the chairman of the 
Committee on Commerce, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bliley), as 
well as my good friend, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton) of the 
Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Emergency Management for 
holding the first hearing on this matter, and the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) who were crucial in moving this bill through 
the Committee on Commerce.
  Finally and most heartfelt, I would like to thank the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Dingell), as well as the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown), 
the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Klink), and the gentlewoman from 
Michigan (Ms. Stabenow) for working with us on our side to move this 
bill.
  I urge the House to pass this bill so we can prevent more deaths from 
the misuse of this dangerous substance, and I urge the other body to 
move this legislation expeditiously.
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2130. One of the most 
pernicious recent developments in our Nation's battle against illegal 
drug use is the emergence of so-called date rape drugs. These drugs are 
being used by sexual predators to incapacitate their victims before 
they are sexually assaulted. Many of these drugs are odorless and 
tasteless as the gentleman from Illinois has already mentioned, and 
they dissolve quickly and easily in alcohol.
  Alcohol enhances the drug's intoxicating effect and leaves the victim 
utterly helpless. What makes the use of these drugs even more 
contemptible is that the victims are likely to suffer memory loss, and 
this makes it virtually impossible for them to recount to law 
enforcement officers the circumstances surrounding the assault. These 
victims suffer the knowledge that they have been sexually assaulted, 
but they just cannot remember the details or explain how it happened 
and that makes it virtually impossible to prosecute many of these 
cases, and that is why they are particularly heinous.
  H.R. 2130 builds on past efforts by the Committee on Commerce and the 
Committee on the Judiciary to address the problem of date rape drugs. 
In 1998, a bill I introduced, the Controlled Substances Trafficking 
Prohibition Act, passed both the House and the Senate and was signed 
into law by the President. H.R. 2366 closed a gaping loophole in U.S. 
drug policy, the so-called personal use exemption to the Controlled 
Substances Act that allowed American drug dealers to bring large 
quantities of prescription drugs, even the most notorious types of date 
rape drugs, into this country without a legitimate doctor's 
prescription or medical purpose.
  This exemption was so lax that studies along the Texas border found 
records of people bringing thousands of these pills into this country 
in one day; multiple drugs and thousands of pills in a single day 
supposedly for personal use. These date rape drugs ultimately found 
their way far too often to the streets and to college campuses, putting 
young women at risk.
  In October 1996, Congress also passed the Drug Induced Rape 
Prevention and Punishment Act of 1996. That law addressed the abuse of 
the drug flunitrazepam and established the precedent that H.R. 2130 now 
follows.
  Others have ably described the provisions of this legislation so I 
will only highlight a few of its key aspects. It places GHB in Schedule 
I of the Controlled Substances Act; thereby providing the maximum 
penalties for those who clandestinely produce the drug at home and 
those who use GHB to commit date rape. It also establishes GBL, the 
precursor chemical used to make GHB, as a list one chemical, the most 
regulated chemical category.
  The legislation allows for the ongoing, promising clinical 
development of GHB for the treatment of narcolepsy and more 
specifically for the treatment of cataplexy. It does so by providing 
that if and when GHB is approved by the FDA for the treatment of 
cataplexy, it will then be placed in Schedule III of the Controlled 
Substances Act. Such scheduling would facilitate use of the drug for 
such treatment. At the same time, however, the bill provides that the 
illegal use of GHB will receive Schedule I penalties.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2130 is another good example of how this Congress 
and recent Congresses are working both smarter and harder to combat the 
scourge of illegal drugs.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, over this past weekend we lost 6 young people in a 
tragic accident near College Station, and before I begin my remarks I 
would like to offer my sympathy to their families and their 
universities.
  Any time we lose young people, it is a tragedy and that is why this 
bill is so particularly important to those of us in Texas and around 
this country. So I am pleased to stand here today in strong support of 
the Hillory J. Farias Date-Rape Preservation Act of 1999, and I was 
delighted this summer to join the members of the Committee on Commerce, 
the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton), the gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Stupak), and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bliley), to 
introduce this bipartisan legislation.
  I want to take this time now to acknowledge the leadership of the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton) and the gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Stupak) and to thank them for their collaborative kindness, to 
thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) and the gentlewoman from 
Michigan (Ms. Stabenow) for their interest and participation. We have 
waited a long time for this day; and I look forward to the next step 
for this legislation, which is final passage today in the House and 
later in the Senate.
  This day has been a long time coming, but it is a victory for those 
of us who are concerned about date rape drugs. This drug, GHB, has been 
used in innumerable rapes around the country and has been implicated in 
at least 40 deaths. In addition to date rape, this drug is very popular 
on the party scene in many cities and it is widely abused. In my home 
city of Houston, GHB has become known as a rage at some Houston area 
clubs where it is clandestinely being dispensed by party goers in clear 
liquid form from designer water bottles. This drug which goes by the 
names of ``easy lay,'' ``grievous bodily harm,'' ``gook,'' ``Gamma 
10,'' and ``liquid X'' cannot be detected with a routine drug screen. 
That is why the deaths of so many of the victims have remained a 
mystery.
  I was prompted to act to control the illicit use of GHB 3 years ago 
because of the death of Hillory J. Farias for whom this bill is named 
after, proudly so, of La Porte, Texas, on August 5, 1996, who was 
killed by this drug.
  There is no pride in her death, but there is pride in this tribute to 
her today. I introduced a GHB bill in 1997 and again in 1998 and in 
1999, and I have continued to advocate for its passage to prevent women 
from being victimized by date rape drugs.
  Hillory J. Farias was a 17-year-old high school student, model 
student and varsity volleyball player, who died as a result of GHB 
slipped in her soft drink. It was at this time that her family refused 
to believe that she died of a self-induced drug overdose, and in their 
persistence they had the new Harris County medical center, Dr. Joy 
Carter, to again retest or reexamine and determine the death or the 
reason of the death of Hillory J. Farias.
  Her family now, Lydia Farias, her grandmother; and Ray Farias, her 
grandfather; Rubin Farias, her uncle; Rosey Farias, her mother; and 
Hernando Farias, her uncle have gathered throughout these 3 years to 
persist in finding some truth to what happened to Hillory but also to 
help pass this legislation so that it could not happen to others again.
  Hillory and two of her girlfriends went out to a club where they 
consumed only soft drinks. At some point

[[Page 24996]]

during the evening, GHB was slipped into Hillory's drink and soon 
afterwards Hillory complained of feeling sick with a severe headache. 
She went home to bed, but the next morning Hillory was found by her 
grandmother unconscious and unresponsive. Hillory was rushed to the 
hospital where she later died. The cause of Hillory's death remained a 
mystery until it was finally detected by medical examiners, in this 
instance Dr. Joy Carter, as I indicated, after receiving a report from 
the Harris County Organized Crime and Narcotics Task Force about a new 
date-rape drug that was starting to show up in area nightclubs.
  I introduced H.R. 1530 on May 5, 1997. The bill has several 
cosponsors, the gentlewoman from Georgia (Ms. McKinney), the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Meek), the gentlewoman from California 
(Mrs. Tauscher), the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick), the 
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), the gentlewoman from Maryland 
(Mrs. Morella), the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez), the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald), the gentleman 
from Georgia (Mr. Bishop), the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), 
the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Wexler), the gentlewoman from Michigan 
(Ms. Stabenow), the gentlewoman from Missouri (Ms. McCarthy), the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Roybal-Allard), the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Bentsen), the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), 
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa), the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Rodriguez), the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Reyes), and the gentleman 
from New York (Mr. Serrano).
  The Subcommittee on Crime held a hearing in July 1998, where 
Hillory's uncle traveled long distance to come along with Dr. Joy 
Carter who was a witness.
  H.R. 1530 received bipartisan support of the Subcommittee on Crime. 
Earlier this session, we introduced H.R. 75, and this summer again I 
worked closely with the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton), the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak), the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Bliley), and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell) to bring us to 
this point.
  The Houston Poison Control reports indicate that as many as 30 people 
have overdosed on the drug and been treated in emergency rooms in the 
past 6 months. In fact, Mike Ellis, director of poison control, stated 
in 1996, that the majority of cases that this agency has been seeing 
over the past few years have resulted from people rushed to the 
hospitals because they could not breath or they passed out in their 
cars and nobody could rouse them.
  My office has been contacted by many families. Fifteen year old 
Samantha Reid died in Michigan. The office of the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. LaFalce) told us of the story of Kerri Breton who died in 
Syracuse, New York, who died from this drug being slipped into her 
drink.
  A young man from the Chicago area overdosed and almost died last 
September. His family called our office pleading for help. There was 
also a recent incident in Michigan where four teenagers died. One 
Houston, Texas, resident by the name of Craig told the media officials 
that the use of the drug is rampant.
  These tragedies underscore the importance of this legislation. 
Without this bill, illicit use of GHB would increase dramatically. It 
is being made in bathtubs. It is being made on the Internet.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank those who have helped us come this 
far, and I would like to also acknowledge that we have provided in this 
bill the exception for narcolepsy, which I think is extremely 
important.

                              {time}  1845

  This bill reflects a compromise. This bill enables law enforcement to 
permit anyone who abuses GHP to the full extent of the law by placing 
the drug on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. By doing so, 
it allows those who use the drug for sexual assault to suffer the 
penalties under the Drug-Induced Rape Prevention and Punishment Act. In 
addition, it provides for the use of this drug medically.
  I would like to thank someone who has been very helpful, Mr. Speaker, 
one such person, Trinka Porrata, a retired member of the Los Angeles 
Police Department. She has advocated for scheduling GHB on Schedule I 
for years and years and years.
  So we come to this point where I would like to finally thank John 
Ford with the minority commerce staff, John Manthei with the majority 
staff. I would like to also thank my staff members Leon Buck, Ayanna 
Hawkins, Oliver Kellman.
  I would like to finally thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Scott); the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), ranking member; the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. McCollum); and the gentleman from Illinois 
(Mr. Hyde) of the Committee on the Judiciary.
  I would like to continue again or to emphasize that this has been a 
bipartisan effort working with the Committee on the Judiciary and the 
Committee on Commerce; and we have come this far, and I look forward to 
my colleagues supporting this legislation, the Hillory J. Farias Date-
Rape Prevention Drug Act.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, may I ask how much time the four of us have 
remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Shimkus). The gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Upton) has 5 minutes remaining. The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Chabot) has 6 minutes remaining. The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) 
has 5 minutes remaining. The gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) 
has 2 minutes remaining.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman 
from Michigan (Ms. Stabenow), a leader in this effort on this 
legislation.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio for 
yielding me this time.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to first thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Upton) for his efforts and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak), 
who I know has been working for 3 years on this issue. I very much 
appreciate their leadership on this issue, as well as the gentlewoman 
from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee), and all of the others that have been 
mentioned concerning this very important issue.
  I come to the floor today, and I am a cosponsor of this legislation, 
not only as a Member of the House of Representatives from Michigan 
where we have seen tragedies occur, but also as a mother of a college-
age daughter.
  I share my colleagues' support for classifying GHB as a Schedule I 
drug, placing it in the most highly regulated category of drugs. It 
depresses the central nervous system and as we know has reportedly been 
abused to produce intense highs and to assist in the commission of 
sexual assaults.
  GHB is a very dangerous drug when used in this context. It has been 
involved in acquaintance or date rapes, which happen to young women 
most likely between the ages of 16 and 24 more than any other group of 
women. Compared to stranger rape, it is grossly underreported, mainly 
because many women do not recognize such encounters as rape, 
particularly if there is minimal violence. Yet, it is rape, and it is a 
crime.
  The statistics on date rape are frightening. It is estimated that one 
in four college women have been the victim of date rape. In a recent 
study, 84 percent of rape victims knew their attacker, and 57 percent 
of those were raped on a date. According to Virginia's Council Against 
Sexual Assault, those figures make acquaintance and date rape more 
common than heart attacks or alcoholism.
  This is a serious issue, and I am very pleased to be joining my 
colleagues to bringing this to the floor. I urge that we have an 
overwhelming bipartisan support for this bill.
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Alabama (Mr. Bachus), who is a member of the Committee on the 
Judiciary.
  Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I commend the gentleman from Michigan

[[Page 24997]]

(Mr. Upton) for bringing this legislation.
  The gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton) mentioned the word 
``nightmare.'' He said it is time to put an end to this nightmare. That 
is exactly what this legislation is about. Every parent's worst 
nightmare is to receive that call in the middle of the night telling us 
that one of our children has been harmed.
  Now, the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee), who has worked 
very hard on this bill, mentioned those six young people that were 
killed at College Station, Texas. I think all of us who had young 
daughters and sons on campuses, we identified with that.
  In Birmingham, there has been a different kind of call in the night, 
a different nightmare. It is a call that our daughters have been given 
this drug GHB. It is clear. It is tasteless. They were at a party. They 
were at a club, and someone slipped it into their drink. The 
unfortunate ones lapsed into unconsciousness, then into a coma, and 
they never recovered. The more fortunate ones do recover, but they are 
scarred. Their parents and they live through this nightmare.
  In Birmingham, Alabama this year alone there have been almost a dozen 
cases of people suffering from overdoses of GHB--the active ingredient 
in date rape drugs. In the past year, Birmingham's South Precinct drug 
task force has made 20 GHB-related arrests.
  It is time to put a stop to it. It is the only responsible thing for 
us to do. That is what this legislation will move to do. It will 
empower law enforcement officers to get these sexual predators that 
would prey on our daughters and our sisters and our neighbors to get 
them off the street and get them behind bars.
  We have had people that have come before the Committee on the 
Judiciary, young ladies who were victims of GHB. They have described to 
us in horrible detail the abuse they suffered from a date using GHB. It 
has been sobering for all of us.
  We have a responsibility to those young ladies and to all young women 
and their parents to address this problem.
  By passing this legislation today, we will take a major step in 
giving our law enforcement officers the tools they need.
  I would like to commend, not only the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Upton), the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee), I would like to 
also commend the gentleman from Florida (Mr. McCollum), the 
Subcommittee on Crime chair, for his excellent work on this.
  I would like to commend the gentlemen from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) and the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) for their work on this.
  I commend the staff of the Committee on the Judiciary, and especially 
Dan Bryant, for their dedicated service in highlighting this dangerous 
drug and its consequences.
  Hopefully, as a result of this legislation, a few less parents will 
receive that dreaded phone call in the middle of the night, and this 
Congress will have done something positive in a bipartisan way. I thank 
the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) for the opportunity to speaking in 
support of this legislation.
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to yield the balance 
of my time to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton).
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I reserve my time.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the 
distinguished gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney), who is the 
cochair of the Women's Caucus and has worked very hard on issues 
dealing with women and children.
  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) for her hard work on this bill, as well as the 
gentleman from Virginia (Chairman Bliley), the gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Dingell), the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak), the gentleman 
from Michigan (Mr. Upton), and many others.
  As the mother of two young women, I urge my colleagues to pass this 
important bipartisan bill, to prevent future tragedies like the one 
that took the life of Hillory J. Farias.
  After an innocent evening at a teenage dance hall, Hillory died, 
never knowing what hit her, never knowing that someone had slipped a 
lethal dose of GHB into her Sprite.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill is about protecting children and young women. 
It is about regulating access to dangerous, unpredictable substances 
like GHB, which is known as a date-rape drug. GHB may not always be 
harmful. It may, indeed, have an appropriate medical use.
  But I say to my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, it should not be in the 
hands of partying teenagers, of preying sex offenders, of uninformed 
consumers.
  I believe that this drug belongs in the hands of professionals, of 
pharmacists, of health care providers who know the legitimate uses as 
well as the risks of GHB. Only then will young women and children be 
safe from the crime and tragic death to which GHB is an accomplice.
  I urge passage of this bill.
  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Maryland (Mrs. Morella), a cosponsor of the bill.
  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, I rise in very strong support of H.R. 
2130. I really want to thank and commend the gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Upton) and the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) for 
introducing this very important piece of legislation and bringing the 
continuing problem of date rape to our attention.
  As has been mentioned, parenthood enters into this, too. As someone 
who has raised six daughters, I am particularly grateful for this 
legislation. It would amend the Controlled Substance Act to add GHB to 
the Drug Enforcement Agency's most-regulated category.
  GHB, as my colleagues may have heard, it deserves repeating, is a 
central nervous system depressant. It is approved as an anesthetic in 
some countries; however, with exception of the investigational 
research, it is not approved for any use in the United States.
  GHB has become one of several agents characterized as a date-rape 
drug. Restricting the use of GHB will undoubtedly protect people all 
over the country, especially young women from being drugged and 
victimized.
  This dangerous drug is considered to be a sleep aid among those who 
know of its effects. A dose is inserted in a drink and orally ingested. 
The reaction to the drug is immediate and grave. Unconsciousness can 
occur within 15 minutes, and a profound coma may arise within 30 to 40 
minutes after initial consumption.
  The purpose of having another ingest this drug is to render the 
victim helpless. The victim is unable to defend oneself and often has 
no memory of the attack.
  GHB is responsible for many of the rapes that occur. It is connected 
to 40 deaths also around the country. Many more deaths may also be at 
the hands of GHB, but this drug is not currently included in a standard 
toxicology screen.
  Adding GHB to the list of controlled substances will help to identify 
how often this drug is abused and who falls victim to its effects.
  The people who can medically benefit from some form of GHB are 
protected through the Federal drug administration when its use is 
determined. With FDA approval, health care professionals will be able 
to treat patients through prescriptions.
  H.R. 2130, the Date Rape Prevention Drug Act seeks to prevent 
violations in sexual attacks. The bill provides protection for anyone 
who may become a victim of GHB, while securing measures for those who 
benefit from it. The legislation also enables enforcement to the full 
extent of the law against anyone who uses GHB for sexual assault 
crimes.
  Offenders could now be sentenced to 20 years in prison under the Drug 
Induced Rape Prevention and Punishment Act. I certainly urge my 
colleagues to support this legislation.

[[Page 24998]]

  I also again wanted to commend the authors of the legislation for 
introducing it, all of the cosponsors, all of the members of the 
committee, the chairman, the ranking member of the full committee and 
of the subcommittee.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation to minimize the use 
of date-rape drugs and expand the protection for the victims of sexual 
attack.
  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, though I wish to 
close.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire of the order for 
closing.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The order is as follows: the gentlewoman 
from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) will proceed first, followed by the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) second, closed by the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Upton).
  The gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) has 30 seconds 
remaining.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, all I can say is that it is now time for us to pay 
tribute to the tragic lives that have been lost, like Hillory, the 
lives in Michigan, the lives across this country, young women who were 
duped with a mickey, volleyball players, athletes, good young women who 
did nothing but wanted to live.
  This bill says that, if one uses GHB to undermine and to do illegal 
acts and to sexually assault, one will be held in violation of Schedule 
I drugs with up to 20 years in jail.

                              {time}  1900

  I ask my colleagues to support this legislation. I ask my colleagues 
to pay tribute to Hillory and all the other young women.
  I am pleased to stand here today in strong support of the Hillory J. 
Farias Date Rape Prevention Act of 1999. This summer, I joined the 
members on the Commerce Committee, Representatives Upton, Stupak, and 
Bliley, to introduce this bipartisan bill. I have waited a long time 
for this day, and I look forward to the next step for this legislation, 
which is final passage today in the House, and later, in the Senate.
  This day has been a long time coming, but it is a victory for those 
of us who are concerned about date rape drugs. This drug, GHB (Gamma 
Hydroxy-butyrate) has been used in innumerable rapes around the country 
and has been implicated in at least 40 deaths. In addition to date 
rape, this drug is very popular on the party scene in many cities and 
it is widely abused.
  In my home city of Houston, GHB has become known as the rage at some 
Houston area clubs where it is clandestinely being dispensed by 
partygoers in clear liquid form from designer water bottles. This 
drug--which goes by the nicknames Easy Lay, Grevious Bodily Harm, Gook, 
Gamma 10 and liquid X--cannot be detected with a routine drug screen. 
That is why the deaths of many of its victims have remained a mystery.
  I was prompted to act to control the illicit use of GHB three years 
ago because of the death of Hillory J. Farias, of Laporte, Texas on 
August 5, 1996, who was killed by this drug. I introduced a GHB bill in 
1997 and again in 1998, and 1999 and I have continued to advocate for 
its passage to prevent more women from being victimized by date rape 
drugs.
  Hillory Farias was a 17-year-old high school senior, model student 
and varsity volleyball player who died as a result of GHB slipped into 
her soft drink.
  Hillory and two of her girlfriends went out to a club where they 
consumed only soft drinks. At some point during the evening, GHB was 
slipped into Hillory's drink and soon afterwards, Hillory complained of 
feeling sick with a severe headache.
  She went home to bed, but the next morning, Hillory was found by her 
grandmother unconscious and unresponsive. Hillory was rushed to the 
hospital where she later died. The cause of Hillory's death remained a 
mystery until it was finally detected by medical examiners after 
receiving a report from the Harris County Organized Crime and Narcotics 
Task Force about a new date-rape drug that was starting to show up in 
area nightclubs.
  I introduced H.R. 1530 on May 5, 1997. The bill had several 
cosponsors--Representatives McKinney, Meek, Tauscher, Kilpatrick, 
Lowey, Morella, Velazquez, Millender-McDonald, Bishop, Pallone, Wexler, 
Stabenow, McCarthy of Missouri, Roybal-Allard, Bentsen, DeLauro, 
Hinojosa, Rodriguez, Reyes, and Serrano.
  The Subcommittee on Crime held a hearing in July 1998 in which there 
were several witnesses. These witnesses included Raul Farias, Hillory's 
uncle and Dr. Joye Carter, the Harris County Medical Examiner who 
determined that GHB was the official cause of Hillory's death.
  H.R. 1530 received the bipartisan support of the Crime Subcommittee 
and was reported favorably for consideration on the floor.
  Earlier this session, I introduced H.R. 75, similar to H.R. 1530 from 
the 105th Congress. This summer, I worked closely with Members of the 
Commerce Committee, Representatives Upton, Stupak and Bliley and Mr. 
Dingell for this version under the consideration, H.R. 2130.
  Unfortunately, Hillory's death was not the only tragedy of this drug. 
The Houston Poison Control reports indicate that as many as 30 people 
have overdosed on the drug and been treated in emergency rooms in the 
past six months. In fact, Mike Ellis, Director of Poison Control, 
stated back in 1996 that the majority of cases that his agency has been 
seeing over the past few years have resulted from people rushed to the 
hospitals because they could not breathe or they passed out in their 
cars and nobody could rouse them. My office has been contacted by the 
families of several victims of this drug since March of this year 
telling stories of how the drug, GHB has impacted their lives.
  In January of this year, 15-year-old Samantha Reid, from Michigan, 
died as a result of this drug and another 14-year-old girl who was also 
poisoned with GHB went into a coma. Four young men have been indicted 
in this crime.
  My office was contacted by Representative LaFalce's office with the 
story of Kerri Breton, from Syracuse, New York who also died from this 
drug being slipped into her drink.
  Ms. Breton was away on a business trip and was having a drink in the 
hotel bar with a colleague. She was found the next day dead on the 
bathroom floor of her hotel room. Her stepfather shared this painful 
story in hope that it would alert others to the dangers of this drug.
  A young man from the Chicago area overdosed and almost died last 
September. He was a bodybuilder who had abused drugs for years. The 
doctors and law enforcement officials in the Chicago area did not know 
anything about GHB. If his sister had not been around when he lost 
consciousness, he would have surely died. She called my office to share 
the painful account of how her family almost had to prepare for her 
brother's death.
  There was also a recent incident in Michigan where four teenagers at 
a party ingested GHB and lapsed into comas. This occurred during the 
Fourth of July holiday.
  One Houston, Texas area resident by the name of Craig told media 
officials that ``the use is rampant.'' ``Drug use GHB spread to many of 
the area after-hours clubs.'' Craig grew interested in GHB after 
reading about the drug on the Internet and in a book he found in a 
popular bookstore. The book described using GHB to increase one's sense 
of touch and sexual prowess. So he bought a quantity of it--generally 
it costs about $10 a capful--from someone in a nightclub. He then 
distributed it to friends at a private party. GHB made Craig pass out 
and he remembered nothing of the party.
  These tragedies underscore the importance of this legislation. All of 
these incidents among young people are strong evidence that this drug 
has a high potential for abuse and must be placed on the schedule for 
the Controlled Substances Act.
  Without this bill, illicit use of GHB would increase dramatically. 
There are undoubtedly other deaths that may not have been classified as 
GHB-related because the drug is not a part of a standard toxicology 
screen.
  GHB has been used to render victims helpless to defend against attack 
and it even erases any memory of the attack. The recipe for this drug 
and its analogs can be accessed on the Internet. Currently, GHB is not 
legally produced in the United States. It is being smuggled across our 
borders or it is being illegally created here by ``bathtub'' chemists.
  As a drug of abuse, GHB is generally ingested orally after being 
mixed in a liquid. The onset of action is rapid, and unconsciousness 
can occur in as little as 15 minutes. Profound coma can occur within 30 
to 40 minutes after ingestion.
  GHB has also been used by drug abusers for its alleged hallucinogenic 
effects and by bodybuilders who abuse GHB for an anabolic agent or as a 
sleep aid.
  I believe that by classifying this drug now, we send a strong message 
to those who would use this drug and its analogs to commit crimes 
against women.

[[Page 24999]]

  However, my position on the illicit use of GHB does not mean that I 
am insensitive to the concerns of patients that might be helped with 
this drug. This drug has shown some benefits to patients with a 
specific form of narcolepsy in clinical trials.
  There is a possibility that GHB can be developed for the treatment of 
cataplexy, a rare form of narcolepsy. Cataplexy is a rare disorder that 
causes sudden and total loss of muscle control.
  People with cataplexy are unable to work, drive or lead a normal 
life. Like my Colleagues, I understand the situation that affects these 
patients and I am sensitive to their need for treatment of that 
disorder.
  This bill reflects a compromise that takes into account the needs of 
the patient group and the needs of law enforcement. This bill enables 
law enforcement to prosecute anyone who abuses GHB to the full extent 
of the law by placing the drug on Schedule I of the Controlled 
Substances Act.
  Scheduling GHB on the Federal Controlled Substances Act allows 
prosecutors to punish anyone who uses this scheduled drug in any sexual 
assault crime to suffer penalties under the Drug Induced Rape 
Prevention and Punishment Act. This bill would increase the sentence 
for someone using GHB to commit a sex crime to 20 years imprisonment.
  However, this bill protects people with cataplexy by providing an 
exemption for those enrolled in clinical trials now, and later it 
reschedules the drug once it has been approved by the FDA.
  The distribution of the drug would be strictly controlled to ensure 
that only patients in need of this drug would have access to it. Any 
illicit use of GHB would result in the enhanced sentence penalties.
  This bill also provides for a grant by the Department of Justice to 
research a forensic test to assist law enforcement in detecting GHB on 
the street. This would improve the ability to prosecute date rape and 
other crimes involving this substance. This provision provides law 
enforcement with a crucial tool in fighting this drug on the street.
  This bill reaches a compromise that will benefit the patients who 
desperately need this drug for treatment and law enforcement agencies 
that need the tools to fight the use of this drug among young people.
  As I stated earlier, I have been working to pass legislation to 
schedule this drug for a long time now because I do not want to see any 
more young lives cut short by GHB. There are many people who have been 
resources to my staff these three years and I would like to thank them 
publicly for their work.
  I would like to thank all of the people who have been involved with 
this process from the beginning and who provided me with information 
about this drug. One such person is Trinka Porrata, a retired member of 
the Los Angeles police department. She has been a strong advocate for 
this legislation.
  I would like to thank the Farias family for sharing their story to 
help us inform others about this drug. Their tragedy and loss cannot be 
overlooked and I appreciate their patience with us. We have worked 
closely with Hillory's family and the Harris County medical examiner, 
Dr. Joye Carter since I first introduced this bill.
  I would also like to thank the other families of the other victims 
who have shared their stories with us as well. With the passage of this 
bill today, I hope that there will some comfort brought to those 
families that their loved ones did not die or suffer in vain.
  I would also like to thank my colleagues on the Commerce Committee, 
for helping to move this legislation through that Committee--
Representatives Upton, Stupak, Bliley, Dingell and Bilirakis. I would 
also like to thank the staff members at the Commerce Committee for 
their hard work, especially John Ford with the Minority staff and John 
Manthei with the Majority staff. Also my staff members, Leon Buch, 
Ayonna Hawkins, and Oliver Kellman.
  I would also like to thank the Members of the Judiciary Committee for 
their work on this issue last year and this year--especially Ranking 
member Conyers, Representatives Scott, McCollum and Chairman Hyde. Last 
year we had a hearing on the issue in the Crime Subcommittee and it 
shed a lot of light on the issue of date rape and illicit drug abuse of 
GHB.
  I also want to thank Mr. Brown, Congresswoman Stabenow of Michigan 
for their efforts.
  Finally, I would like to thank my staff for their hard work on this 
issue. Again, I thank my colleagues for their support of this 
legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit for the Record ``While You Were Sleeping,'' a 
chronicle of a GHB trip by Trinka Porrata, as well as correspondence 
from the DEA.

   While You Were Sleeping . . . (AKA--The Truth About Gamma Hydroxy 
                               Butyrate)


   To Protect and Serve--And in this case to hopefully save you from 
                                yourself

                          (By Trinka Porrata)

       You thought it was a good trip, but . . . while you were 
     sleeping . . . Your body endured a reeeeeally BAD trip!
       First, you took that little capful of salty tasting stuff 
     that your ``friend'' told you would help develop lean muscle 
     mass or lose weight or improve your sex life, or well, just 
     give you a buzz--(but did your friend tell you it is 
     degreasing solvent--or floor stripper--mixed with drain 
     cleaner?!?!?)
       Maybe it was even in a bottle marked ``Blue Nitro'' or 
     ``Renewtrient'' or Revivarant'' or ``Fire Water'' or 
     ``Remforce.''
       Ok, that's still just floor stripper.
       Anyway--maybe you were trying to impress your buddies and 
     took a big slug of that nasty stuff instead of just the 
     capful they told you to take . . .
       Or--maybe your ``friend'' told you nothing and just slipped 
     it into your drink--talked you into trying a Long Island Ice 
     Tea maybe--or some other unusual drink.
       And you sort of remember that really sudden, wild, giddy 
     high you felt from it. You remember how the bass beat of the 
     music became overwhelmingly loud and. . . . you remember 
     walking across the dance floor, but it was sort of like . . . 
     it was happening to you, but like you were watching yourself 
     move on TV. Sort of an ``out of body'' gig.
       Of course, you may (or may not) remember dancing wildly and 
     sexually groping those around you--with little regard for 
     which gender you were grabbing (you see, it is 
     disinhibiting--and gender concerns may fade).
       And maybe you remember (or maybe not) wildly climbing all 
     over that virtual stranger who bought you that unusual drink.
       Or maybe you're the ``mean drunk'' kind and you got 
     obnoxious with all around you, waiting to fight anyone in 
     your way.
       Then maybe you remember feeling so safe and secure, just a 
     little tired. You remember feeling all was A-OK, but you just 
     wanted to take a comfy nap. You slumped to the floor, but you 
     weren't at all mindful of where you were. The floor or a char 
     or couch or bed--it just didn't matter. You were so very very 
     cool.
       Now about that comfy nap you wanted to take. You thought 
     you were just nodding off. You know, head bobbing just a 
     little to the side--gently as you were trying to doze off. 
     That's how YOU recall it. Well, to those standing around you 
     it was much different. Your body was jerking away. Some call 
     it seizures. Doctors call it clonic muscle movements--
     Whatever. In any case, it was much more dramatic than your 
     mind remembers it. Your body was having a really, really bad 
     day.
       Then there's that g-r-o-s-s vomiting you were doing.
       Like it was just normal.
       Like you were spitting tobacco in a spittoon.
       Don't remember it at all do you?
       Your body was having a bad, bad, really bad day with that.
       By now your pulse was slowing. Respirations were slowing. 
     Your blood pressure was down a bit.
       Then your twitching, jerking, stinky body just stopped 
     moving completely. You didn't respond at all to people 
     talking to you or shaking you. You weren't breathing 
     regularly (also known as apnea) and had very depressed 
     breathing. Like maybe just six times per minute.
       Your level of consciousness at this stage in the ER is 
     called a Glascow Coma Score of 3 (on a scale of 3-15).
       If you were in an ER now, they'd be pinching your 
     fingernails and beating on your sternum to test for your 
     level of consciousness.
       Oh, and, dig this, a cadaver (a dead body) scores a GCS 3 
     too.
       You were nearly dead. Of course, if you were the one trying 
     to impress your pals and took a big slug of it--you may have 
     skipped right on through most of these stages and began 
     frothing up blood right away--and came to this standstill 
     really fast. . . .
       Meanwhile, your good ``friends'' were partying around you.
       They tossed you into a corner to let you sleep it off. Part 
     of the time you may have been breathing loudly, but not 
     necessarily.
       They couldn't hear you anyway because of the loud music.
       They elect not to call 911 because some goofball on the 
     Internet says not to bother--you'll just sleep it off and 
     calling 911 could be expensive if they try to nail you for 
     the hospital bill and besides, it'll attract attention from 
     the police.
       So they leave you there--and check on you once in a while . 
     . .
       HELLO--
       Check on you for what?
       So while they are partying, you just forget to breathe. Or 
     that chewing gum in your mouth rolls into the back of your 
     throat and seals off the airway (you don't have a gag reflect 
     now, thanks to GHB, that might make you cough and save 
     yourself).
       Or you vomit and you're lying on your back and you 
     literally drown in it because, again, you can't gag and save 
     yourself.
       You are in an unarousable coma.
       It isn't what life is supposed to be about.

[[Page 25000]]

       Or maybe during this time--your new ``friend'' is raping 
     you.
       And then, about four or five hours after you took that 
     fateful drink--maybe you wake up suddenly and it's all over!
       Of course, you may wonder where that vomit came from, 
     because you may not remember ever feeling ill--just that 
     pleasant want-to-take-a-nap thing you felt early on.
       Or maybe you don't wake up--EVER. Maybe your body had the 
     ultimate bad day.
                                  ____

                                      U.S. Department of Justice--


                              Drug Enforcement Administration,

                                 Washington, DC, October 12, 1999.
     Hon. Sheila Jackson-Lee,
     U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
       Dear Congresswoman Jackson-Lee: I am pleased to provide you 
     with the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) position on 
     H.R. 2130, which schedules gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) under 
     the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). We in DEA appreciate 
     your steadfast support for controlling GHB, which has taken a 
     terrible toll on too many individuals.
       The DEA continues to be concerned about the illicit 
     production, trafficking, diversion and public health risks 
     associated with abuse of GHB. GHB has not been approved for 
     medical use in the United States by the Food and Drug 
     Administration (FDA). Although the importation, distribution 
     and use of GHB as a drug are not allowed by the FDA, except 
     for research, the data available to DEA shows that there is a 
     significant and widespread abuse problem with GHB. This 
     information has been collected through traditional data 
     sources, including the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), the 
     Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and toxicological 
     laboratories, emergency rooms, and medical examiners. The DEA 
     has documented 5,500 cases of overdose, toxicity, dependence 
     and law enforcement encounters. DEA has obtained 
     documentation in the form of toxicology, autopsy and 
     investigator reports from medical examiners on 49 deaths that 
     involved GHB.
       In light of the continued illicit production, trafficking, 
     abuse and public health risk of GHB, the DEA strongly 
     supports the control of GHB in Schedule I of the CSA. In 
     addition, the DEA supports the treatment of gamma 
     butyrolactone (GBL) and 1,4-butanediol as controlled 
     substance analogues when intended for human consumption and 
     the listing of GBL, the precursor to GHB, as a List I 
     chemical.
       Placing GHB in Schedule I under the CSA, which your 
     legislation proposes, imposes the severest criminal penalties 
     and appropriate regulatory requirements necessary for a drug 
     with high abuse potential and which is not currently 
     available for marketing. Such a placement sends the 
     appropriate message to federal, state and local law 
     enforcement organizations, prosecutors, medical 
     professionals, educators, and others that GHB is a highly 
     abuseable drug and will give those law enforcement officers 
     and prosecutors the necessary legal tools to combat this 
     growing problem.
       If GHB is approved for marketing by the FDA, GHB will have 
     a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United 
     States. Should that occur, the DEA would move the GHB-
     containing product into whatever Schedule is justified by its 
     actual abuse and the scientific knowledge about its abuse and 
     dependence potentials at that time. The data collected to 
     date would support control of the GHB product in Schedule II.
       If I may be of further assistance to you in this matter, 
     please do not hesitate to contact me.
           Sincerely,

                                            Catherine H. Shaw,

                                Chief, Office of Congressional and
                                                   Public Affairs.

  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, again I would like to commend the authors of the bill, 
the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) and the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Upton) and especially the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Stupak), who pointed out in committee and on the floor that this 
legislation, aimed at getting GHB out of the hands of children and 
criminals, should not at the same time inadvertently stifle beneficial 
use of the drugs.
  GHB holds promises and treatment for narcolepsy, a debilitating and 
potentially fatal illness that affects 250,000 Americans; and this 
bill, Mr. Speaker, allows under carefully circumscribed conditions the 
use of GHB for medical research and treatment.
  It certainly has its insidious uses. That is the main thrust of this 
bill, as it should be. It also has some potentially miraculous ones. 
This bill I believe, Mr. Speaker, successfully addresses both. I look 
forward to its passage this year.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Shimkus). The gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Upton) has 4 minutes remaining.
  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, again I wanted to thank my colleagues. This bill would 
not have happened without the great work done on both sides of the 
aisle, and in particular, the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) 
who came to our committee and testified and her work in the previous 
Congress, as well.
  This morning, I met with a number of students in my district on a 
college campus. I know we have done some very good things here. The 
awareness level is up. Whereas, a year or two ago, I do not think that 
awareness level was there. But now, in fact, warnings are posted in a 
lot of dorms and many campuses across the country. The word is out, 
particularly among college women, that they have to be careful and they 
need to go to parties with a friend and they need to make sure that 
whatever they are drinking, a soft drink or whatever it might be, it 
needs to be watched carefully.
  There is an awareness, too, by parents warning their daughters in 
particular as they go off to school, particularly now as this school 
year has started off, to be careful.
  This is a nightmare. It needs to end. This bill does that in a very 
strong and bipartisan way that deserves enactment into law.
  I appreciate everyone's support, everyone's statements today.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. UPTON. I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman 
from Michigan (Mr. Upton) again for the persistence, for the 
determination in which he led his subcommittee, the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak), the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell), and the gentleman from Virginia 
(Mr. Bliley) in conjunction with the Committee on the Judiciary. This 
is the finest hour of those two committees working together.
  I might add as I close in thanking the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Upton) especially, as we have worked together, is that those young 
women in taking that drug would fail to remember anything that ever 
happened to them and could not provide any evidence to police if they 
were sexually assaulted. It is the worst kind of drug.
  So I hope the efforts that we are trying with the campaign, with the 
attorney general, and the Health and Human Services Secretary will make 
this go away.
  But again, I thank the gentleman very much for his leadership on this 
issue.
  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I appreciate the comments 
of the gentlewoman.
  Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank the staff from the committees from 
the get-go to make sure that we drafted and crafted a bill that would 
muster the test that all of us want with the appropriate end result.
  Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2130, 
``The Hillory J. Farias Date Rape Prevention Drug Act of 1999.'' This 
important, bipartisan legislation was unanimously approved by my Health 
and Environment Subcommittee in July of this year, and the full 
Commerce Committee passed the measure in August.
  H.R. 2130 was introduced by Representative Fred Upton, joined by 
Representatives Tom Bliley, Bart Stupak and Shelia Jackson-Lee. The 
bill amends the Controlled Substances Act to make GHB a Schedule I 
drug, the DEA's most intensively regulated category of drugs. GHB is a 
central nervous system depressant that has been abused to assist in the 
commission of sexual assaults.
  H.R. 2130 also schedules ketamine, an animal tranquilizer that has 
been similarly abused, as a Schedule III drug. As a further protection, 
H.R. 2130 lists GBL, the primary precursor used in the production of 
GHB, as a List I chemical. These three compunds--GHB, ketamine, and 
GBL--are more commonly known as ``date rape'' drugs.
  The bill before us includes language designed to protect very 
important and promising research on an orphan drug that contains GHB 
and is used in the treatment of narcolepsy patients. These provisions 
were adopted

[[Page 25001]]

as an amendment when the bill was considered by my Health and 
Environment Subcommittee.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting passage of H.R. 2130, 
the Hillory J. Farias Date Rape Prevention Drug Act of 1999.
  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2130, the Hillory 
J. Farias Date Rape Drug Prevention Act of 1999. I introduced this 
legislation with my colleagues Mr. Bliley, the Chairman of the Commerce 
Committee, and Mr. Stupak and Ms. Jackson-Lee, who have been real 
leaders in the fight to control date rape drugs.
  As you may know, Mr. Speaker, this legislation is the product of an 
Oversight and investigations Subcommittee hearing I held earlier this 
year that focused on the abuse of ``date rape'' drugs, the law 
enforcement challenges in battling their abuse, and the administrative 
procedures involved in scheduling the drugs under the Controlled 
Substances Act. I held that hearing after reading about two young 
Michigan women whose drinks were laced with GHB at a party they were 
attending. Both fell into a coma, and sadly, one died.
  Since that hearing, I have read far too many other stories of young 
women in Michigan and across the nation being given GHB and similar 
drugs, such as GBL, a precursor to GHB, and ketamine, a fast-acting 
anesthetic used in veterinary medicine. Simply put, these drugs are 
killing our young people. Those who survive ingesting these drugs are 
too often dealing with the painful consequences of rape or other sexual 
abuse.
  The abuse of ``date rape'' drugs, principally GHB, ketamine, and GBL, 
has substantially increased in recent years and continues to grow. The 
Drug Enforcement Administration, the DEA, has documented over 4,000 
overdoses and law-enforcement encounters with GHB and 32 GHB-related 
deaths. At least 20 States have scheduled GHB under state drug control 
statutes, and law enforcement officials continue to see an increased 
presence of the drug in sexual assault, driving under the influence 
(DWI), and overdose cases involving teenagers.
  With respect to ketamine, from 1992 through 1998 the DEA has 
documented more than 560 incidents of the sale and/or use of ketamine 
in our nation's junior highs, high schools, and college campuses.
  This abuse has to stop. By passing this bill today, we are taking a 
significant step forward in getting these products out of the hands of 
sexual predators and protecting our nation's youth.
  Following the recommendations of the DEA, H.R. 2130 would amend the 
Controlled Substances Act to make GHB a Schedule I drug, the DEA's most 
intensively regulated category of drugs. In addition, H.R. 2130 places 
ketamine in Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act and lists 
GBL, the primary precursor used in the production of GHB, as List I 
chemical.
  H.R. 2130 would thus provide law enforcement officers and prosecutors 
with tough new tools to prosecute those who would use these drugs for 
criminal purposes or otherwise abuse them. In addition, it would 
control chemicals being increasingly used to produce a ``GHB effect,'' 
and would strike at the very source of many of these illegal 
substances--chemicals ordered over the Internet and shipped by mail.
  At the same time, it protects the legitimate medical use of these 
substances. I know that many of you have heard from narcolepsy 
researchers and patients who are concerned that by placing GHB in 
Schedule I, we will disrupt promising clinical trials testing this drug 
as a treatment for a particularly severe form of narcolepsy. I want to 
assure everyone that this concern was addressed when the bill was in 
committee. It was amended to place GHB which is being used in an FDA-
approved clinical trial in Schedule III, but with Schedule I penalties 
for its misuse. Further, should the FDA approve GHB as a treatment for 
narcolepsy, the prescription form will be in Schedule III, but only for 
the prescribed use. Again, Schedule I penalties would apply. An 
individual with a prescription for a GHB product who is passing the 
drug around at a party will be committing a crime punishable by the 
severest penalties under the Controlled Substances Act.
  This bill attacks date rape drug abuse by educating young people, law 
enforcement officers, educators, and medical personnel about the 
dangers of these drugs and the penalties for their abuse. It would 
further assist law enforcement officers by providing for the 
development of a forensic field test to detect the presence of GHB and 
related substances.
  Finally, it provides for an annual report on incidence of date-rape 
drug abuse so that we can ensure that the steps we are taking with this 
bill and in other areas are working to protect our young people and 
discourage the use of these substances.
  Mr. BLILEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2130, ``The 
Hillory J. Farias Date Rape Prevention Drug Act of 1999.'' As you know, 
along with Mr. Upton, Mr. Stupak, and Ms. Jackson-Lee, I am an original 
sponsor of this important legislation to address the growing problem of 
the abuse of ``date rape drugs'' and I strongly urge all of my 
colleagues to vote in favor of this bipartisan bill.
  Earlier this year, the Commerce Committee's Oversight and 
Investigations subcommittee held a hearing on Date Rape drugs, and the 
problems in battling their abuse. At the hearing, we heard from the 
DEA, the Department of Justice, the FDA, and many state and local law 
enforcement officials, and all of them urged Congress to have these 
drugs listed as controlled substances.
  The bill does just that. These drugs are all powerful sedatives, 
which in certain dosages can cause unconsciousness or even death. The 
numbers of emergency room admissions which are related to these drugs 
have dramatically increased in recent years. For example, as many of 
you know earlier this summer 5 teenagers in Michigan shared a drink 
that was laced with GHB. All 5 lapsed into comas, and nearly died. 
Also, as many of you know, this legislation is named after a young 
Texas woman, Hillory Farias, who died after a dose of GHB.
  Significantly, the legislation before us today also protects years of 
promising research by providing for a limited exemption from Schedule I 
manufacturing and distributing facility security requirements for 
facilities manufacturing and distributing GHB for a FDA approved 
clinical study, and, following the recommendations of the Department of 
Health and Human Services, places an FDA approved GHB drug product into 
Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act. However, to ensure that 
the drug products are not improperly abused, the bill adds additional 
reporting and accountability requirements similar to the requirements 
for Schedule I substances, Schedule II drugs, and Schedule III 
narcotics. For example, if new narcolepsy drugs receive FDA approval, 
H.R. 2130 will still maintain the strict Schedule I criminal penalties 
for the unlawful abuse of the approved drug product. Simply put, these 
additional requirements and penalties in my opinion provide greater 
protection to our nation's youth, and to give law enforcement agencies 
the ability to penalize those who abuse this product, while protecting 
certain important advances in new drug development.
  By passing H.R. 2130 we will take a significant step forward in 
giving law enforcement organizations the tools they need to get ``date 
rape'' drugs off of the streets and to protect our nation's children. 
By doing so, hopefully we can ensure that further incidents similar to 
the events in Michigan and Texas do not occur again.
  Once again, I would like to take this opportunity to commend Mr. 
Upton, Mr. Stupak, and Ms. Jackson-Lee for their leadership on this 
issue, and I look forward to seeing H.R. 2130 passing the Full House 
and being signed into law.
  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 2130, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a 
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not 
present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8, rule XX, and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

                          ____________________