[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 21]
[Senate]
[Pages 28183-28184]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            COMBAT METH ACT

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I briefly speak to an issue that is 
important to me and important to the American people. As we continue 
our debate on the PATRIOT Act conference report, I call my colleagues' 
attention to a special crimefighting provision that promises to thwart 
the No. 1 drug problem in America today, methamphetamine. The provision 
is called the Combat Meth Act. It enjoys broad bipartisan support in 
this body. It is a part of the PATRIOT Act legislation.
  In particular, I want to thank my colleague from Missouri, Senator 
Talent, for his tireless efforts in advancing this pressing issue. He 
has been focused on it, and he has talked to all of our colleagues 
about it. He very passionately expresses the need and the critical 
importance of this bill. He has worked hand in hand with our colleague 
from California, Senator Feinstein, and together they introduced the 
Combat Meth Act in January of this year.
  As leadership, I was proud to work with our corresponding House 
leadership to encourage our Members to work with all of our 
counterparts to get this done, to work in a bicameral way.
  The Combat Meth Act is a victory for law enforcement, a victory for 
our communities, and a victory for every family who has experienced the 
pain and the destruction of methamphetamine abuse. In 10 years--one 
decade--meth has become America's worst drug problem. That is above 
marijuana, cocaine, heroin--over the last 10 years. It is destroying 
individuals.
  We have all heard stories in our various States and districts of 
families and whole communities being destroyed by the new emergence of 
methamphetamine and the destruction it causes. My own State of 
Tennessee has been hit particularly hard. In 2004, Tennessee ranked No. 
2, tied with Iowa and just behind Missouri, in the number of 
methamphetamine lab seizures. Sandy Mattice, a former U.S. Attorney in 
Tennessee, and now a Federal judge in Chattanooga, calls meth ``the 
worst stuff'' we have ever seen. It has led to some of the worst and 
most disturbing cases of violence to hit the front pages of today.
  This August, when I was back at home traveling across Tennessee, I 
heard stories again and again from my fellow Tennesseans of the 
devastating destruction meth is creating in communities all across the 
State. I heard about addicted mothers and fathers abusing their 
children, abusing each other during the highs and the lows created by 
methamphetamine use. I heard about addicts stealing from their own 
spouses, stealing from their own

[[Page 28184]]

families because they were so desperate to support this highly 
addictive drug and the habit that becomes a part of it.
  There is one Tennessee story which was so horrific that it made 
national news. Because it was so accurately reflective of the 
destruction and pain created by meth, the laws in Tennessee were 
changed.
  In June of last year, authorities found 3-year-old Haley Spicer in 
her father's mobile home in Campbell County. Haley had been burned over 
her body with cigarettes, she had been scalded with hot water, and she 
had been severely beaten. The fumes from her father's meth lab were so 
toxic that Haley's eyelids were nearly melted shut. Haley has undergone 
several surgeries to open her eyes. She faces a number of operations in 
the future to rebuild her nose and to rebuild her injured ear.
  Haley's father Tommy Joe Owens was sentenced in October to 95 years 
in prison for what he did to his child. His live-in girlfriend 
Charlotte Claiborne pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 20 years 
behind bars.
  Haley's case was so shocking that in August the State legislature 
passed Haley's Law to drastically toughen child abuse penalties. This 
was an important victory for child abuse victims, but it didn't get to 
the concurrent problem of meth abuse and addiction which led to this 
crime.
  Local law enforcement--I heard it all over the State--is literally 
overwhelmed by the meth crisis. They are calling out for our help. They 
need us to pass the Combat Meth Act to restrict access to the cold 
medicines that contain pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, which are the key 
ingredients easily obtained today and used to manufacture 
methamphetamine. Once you have those ingredients, meth can literally be 
manufactured with a few pots and pans in a kitchen.
  While some States, such as my home State of Tennessee, have passed 
laws restricting access to these products, other States have not yet 
acted. As a result, meth cooks can jump from one State to another State 
to another State to get the over-the-counter ingredients they use to 
make this highly addictive toxin.
  Law enforcement and prosecutors tell me the single greatest impact we 
could have on reducing meth abuse is to require all 50 States to 
restrict access to the cold medicines containing the ingredients used 
to make methamphetamine. Data from States that have gone ahead and 
passed laws restricting access to these precursor chemicals proves that 
indeed to be the case. They work.
  Oklahoma, for instance, passed a law last year and with this law has 
seen a dramatic reduction in meth lab seizures. Data from my own State 
of Tennessee--we passed a similar law earlier in the year--shows the 
same trend, a steady decline in meth lab seizures.
  The Combat Meth Act will require all 50 States to do what Oklahoma 
and Tennessee have done. The Combat Meth Act is critical to containing 
and defeating the meth epidemic. We need one uniform standard to close 
the loopholes in the system so that producers can't cruise from State 
to State exploiting our differences.
  I again thank Senator Talent and Senator Feinstein for their 
leadership and for pushing hard to get this done.
  I urge my colleagues to pass the PATRIOT Act, which includes this 
much needed law. The Combat Meth Act is a victory for law enforcement 
across this land in our communities. The Combat Meth Act is a victory 
for towns and for communities and cities all across America. It is a 
victory for all of the innocent individuals and families who have been 
harmed by this dangerous and deadly drug.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Colorado.

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