Departments of Labor , Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008 - Continued

Floor Speech

DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008--Continued -- (Senate - October 23, 2007)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

METHAMPHETAMINE CONTROL

Mr. CRAPO. Madam President, in September, the Finance Committee held a hearing on the efficacy, over the past year, of the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act, or the Combat Meth Act, for short. The Combat Meth Act implemented restrictions on drugs that go into the production of methamphetamines. Methamphetamine abuse has devastated lives, families, and communities across our Nation and across the world. The testimony given at this hearing by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of State, and State agencies indicated that while the Combat Meth Act helped reduce the home production of methamphetamine across the U.S., it is now flowing at historic levels across our borders from countries where production controls are much less rigid.

A 2006 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report found that my home State of Idaho had one of the highest rates of methamphetamine use in the preceding 12 months of those aged 12 and older. In rural Idaho, especially, the issue of methamphetamine abuse has almost become commonplace: I visit with local officials and community leaders to hear about problems affecting their community when I am home in Idaho. When I ask if it is still a problem, the response is almost always ``of course,'' as if the very question was a little naive. This troubles me greatly.

Thomas Siebel, chairman and founder of the highly successful Montana Meth Project, also testified at the September Finance Committee hearing on the Combat Meth Act. The Montana Meth Project was established in 2005 as a nonprofit organization created to reduce first-time methamphetamine use through public-service messaging, public policy and community outreach. In the 2 years since the project has been active in Montana, the State has gone from being fifth in the Nation for per capita meth use to 39th today--a staggering change. Adult meth use is down in Montana by as much as 70 percent. The Montana Meth Project is an example of a highly effective private sector education and prevention effort. This success is also good news for Arizona, Illinois and my State of Idaho, all three of which have started their own ``Meth Projects.'' While this is very encouraging, we have a long way to go.

Montana and Idaho are just two States that have been overwhelmingly affected by meth production, use and addiction. Rural communities nationwide have been hit particularly hard by the demand and presence of this lethal drug, creating major challenges for law enforcement, health and welfare and environmental protection agencies, not to mention our families and school systems.

I have been approached by police officers, community leaders, health advocates, school administrators, and criminal justice leaders about the severe toll that this drug takes on our citizens, particularly teens and young adults. They have witnessed destroyed relationships and families torn apart, all suffering from this drug that invades neighborhoods, friends, and families. According to Idaho's Department of Health and Welfare, the number of children in foster care increased by 40 percent between 2002 and 2006. Approximately 3,000 children enter foster care in Idaho every year; the majority of them are children of meth-addicted single mothers. Our children are the unwitting and helpless victims of this menacing drug epidemic.

There is some encouraging news but, as is the case with drug trafficking, it is tempered with alarming trends. In 1999, Idaho implemented an initiative to fight meth production, coordinating regional and State level law enforcement efforts. These efforts have proven highly successful. In 2000, 186 meth labs were seized. In 2004, the number had dropped to 38 thanks to this enhanced coordination strategy. According to Idaho law enforcement agencies, meth lab seizures are now at an all-time low, which has resulted in less danger to neighborhoods and communities, as well as to environmental protection workers who are responsible for doing clean up of these sites after they are seized.

At the Finance Committee hearing last month, Gary Kendall, director, State of Iowa Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy, testified that Iowa had also seen success with ``State and local prevention efforts'' and ``multijurisdictional task forces.''

At the national and international level, according to the State Department Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, since the passage last year of the Combat Meth Act, methamphetamine abuse has been trending slightly downward in the United States; unfortunately, worldwide consumption is growing. This is due in large part to the fact that, compared to organic illegal drugs such as opiates and cocaine, methamphetamine is relatively easy to manufacture, can be produced just about anywhere and has a very substantial profit margin. It is the State Department's assessment that international mitigation and control of this disturbing worldwide trend can only be maintained by strong U.S. leadership. We have seen some success in recent months and years. During the first 6 months of this year, Operation Crystal Flow, a joint operation between the U.S. Government and governments in North and South America and West Asia, saw the halting, suspension or seizure of 53 tons of chemicals that go into meth production--so-called precursor drugs.

This operation was the joint effort of the International Narcotics Control Board through its Project Prism Task Force which includes the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and authorities in 126 other nations. This is just one of a number of international efforts in which the U.S. Government is participating.

With the crackdown here at home on methamphetamine production, the supply source has changed. Today, Mexico is the principal foreign supplier of methamphetamine to the United States. According to the State Department, 80 percent of drug addicts in Mexicali and Tijuana are using meth. Mexico itself has a very serious methamphetamine addiction problem among its population and, because of the success of the Combat Meth Act and activities undertaken by individual States, U.S. demand for the drug has gone south, so to speak. Meth from so-called ``superlabs'' in Mexico is reaching beyond the already-established demand of my State and surrounding western and southwestern States to other areas in the United States: we're seeing it in the Great Lakes, the Northeast, and Southeast.

Again, the lure of an enormous profit margin, coupled with the highly addictive nature of meth is a proven recipe for even greater disaster. The Mexican Government has been working over the past few years to exert more sweeping control of the movement of large amounts of methamphetamine precursor drugs. Our Government is working with the Mexican Government in ongoing border security and drug trafficking initiatives, but as supply lines are squelched in one area, they restart in other areas and other countries where controls and law enforcement are lacking. As I stated earlier, this is an international problem and efforts, led by the United States, must be global in scope.

According to the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, methamphetamine seizures have steadily increased. Although Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has increased its bilateral and multilateral drug interdiction efforts in recent years, and drug seizures are up, the supply is also increasing as it becomes the drug of choice for 15 to 16 million people worldwide.

Our work to combat meth is a multipronged process and, as I said earlier, rural areas and States have been hit particularly hard by this trend. Small towns in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and other States remain under siege by the meth epidemic. These are not communities with substantial numbers of law enforcement personnel and resources, massive revenue bases, or specialized departments and offices to fight back.

Recently, an Idahoan with over 20 years' experience working with drug-endangered children shared an idea with me on how to best fight the meth problem in rural communities. His recommendation was that the Federal Government should assist local communities in forming multi-organization, school, parent, and agency task forces to educate children and adults about the perils of meth addiction. He reminded me that these task forces exert community and peer pressure to report the presence of labs and those selling and using meth in the community. In Idaho, this approach has proven to be the most effective way to combat meth problems in our rural communities. Educating people before they try meth like the Montana Meth Project has done, enabling and energizing local collaborative task forces to spread the word that their communities say ``no'' to meth, and maintaining a zero tolerance policy that includes severe penalties for breaking the law, will help reduce demand and dry up supply.

Integral to fighting methamphetamine in our communities is educating our children. To that end in Idaho, I have partnered with the Idaho State Department of Education Safe and Drug Free Schools program and issued a call for high schools across my State to create public service announcements that seek to educate other students about the dangers of methamphetamine abuse, on the model of the highly successful Montana Meth Project. Getting our youth involved directly in this outreach and education effort will reduce the potential for methamphetamine use.

Considering the growing international methamphetamine epidemic, it is in our Nation's interest to remain very active in cooperative endeavors such as those in which the State Department, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Department of Homeland Security are currently involved. These successful programs deserve continued funding in order to stop the supply of meth coming into our neighborhoods.

It is time for our Nation to mobilize to fight this deadly drug. It is time to let foreign drug traffickers know that the United States is closed to meth business. We have witnessed enough children with ruined bodies, minds, and lives. We have seen enough adults abandon their parental and societal responsibilities for the lie that is a meth high. We have seen the tragedy of newborn babies taken away from mothers unable to care for them, and the infants themselves suffering the same terrible addiction.

Meth continues to ravage America's communities, large and small. This will require an increased effort from the Federal Government to bring an end to meth use and production in these places. It is especially important to focus Federal dollars where they are truly needed--in rural communities nationwide that don't have the manpower or other resources to fight this battle alone. I call on my colleagues to support critical effective efforts in their respective States to work toward meth-free communities, and to continue to support U.S. leadership and involvement in international drug trafficking interdiction and suppression efforts.

There are many things we can do from the Federal level to the State level to the local community and, frankly, the family and individual levels to fight meth in this country.

One of the most important findings is simply educating people about the risks involved in the use of methamphetamines. It is critical to our ability to reduce the demand and to be able to get a handle on fighting the supply.

I yield back the remainder of my time.

Source