[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 15]
[House]
[Pages 20776-20777]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
            METHAMPHETAMINE KINGPIN ELIMINATION ACT OF 2007

  (Mr. SMITH of Nebraska asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Nebraska. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as we consider the 
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. 
According to the DEA, 33.3 kilograms of methamphetamine were seized in 
my home State of Nebraska in 2006. For this reason, I would like to 
commend the leadership and Appropriations Committee for including $85 
million in funding for grant projects to address the manufacture, sale 
and use of methamphetamine. However, we must send a stronger message to 
those who are smuggling and distributing the drug, which is why I have 
introduced the Methamphetamine Kingpin Elimination Act of 2007.

[[Page 20777]]

  The number of methamphetamine labs in the U.S. has declined since 
Congress enacted the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act last year to 
restrict the sale of pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient in 
methamphetamine. Unfortunately, a reverse trend has occurred south of 
our border.
  Mexico is the largest foreign supplier of methamphetamine destined 
for the U.S. It is estimated that as much as 80 percent of the 
methamphetamine on U.S. streets comes from Mexico. Unlike the small 
U.S. kitchen labs, Mexican drug cartels are creating superlabs, which 
produce huge quantities of cheap methamphetamine and then smuggle it 
north to U.S. users.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time we stop this flood of methamphetamine coming 
across our border.
  The ``Meth Kingpin Elimination Act of 
2007,'' increases penalties for meth kingpins. The bill also authorizes 
$20 million for multi-jurisdictional methamphetamine task forces.
  Meth devastates not only those who abuse the drug, but their families 
and their communities as well. The drug has a phenomenal rate of 
addiction, with some experts saying users often get hooked after just 
one use. Recent studies have demonstrated that methamphetamine causes 
more damage to the brain than heroin, alcohol, or cocaine.
   Mr. Speaker, I ask you to join me in keeping this destructive drug 
off America's streets and ensuring that meth kingpins and traffickers 
receive harsher penalties.
  Mr. Speaker, we must work together to address this severe problem.

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