May 8, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 76 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session
All in Senate sectionPrev55 of 81Next
Opioid Epidemic (Executive Calendar); Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 76
(Senate - May 08, 2019)
Text available as:
Formatting necessary for an accurate reading of this text may be shown by tags (e.g., <DELETED> or <BOLD>) or may be missing from this TXT display. For complete and accurate display of this text, see the PDF.
[Pages S2737-S2740] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] Opioid Epidemic Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I come to the floor today again to talk about the drug epidemic that continues to be such a big issue in my home State of Ohio and around our country. I am here now for my 56th floor speech, I am told, on this topic, sometimes talking about the opioid crisis that has gripped my State the way it has so many others in this Chamber but also talking about other issues that relate to the drug epidemic. It is not just about the prescription drugs, the heroin, the fentanyl, and the carfentanil that have impacted so many women and children and families and devastated so many communities; there are also other issues. The one I want to talk about today is what is happening with regard to crystal meth. Methamphetamine is back with a vengeance, and we need to have a more effective response to it. Congress has done quite a bit in the last several years to push back against this drug epidemic. New policies have been put in place at the Federal level for the past few years that are promoting better prevention, treatment, and recovery and helping our law enforcement respond with Narcan--that miracle drug that reverses the effects of overdoses--and helping to ensure that we have a prevention message out there that is more effective. Congress has now spent more than $3 billion in additional funding-- taxpayer dollars--to support treatment and recovery programs, and it has been needed. The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act has provided a lot of that, and so has the 21st Century Cures Act. That goes directly to the States. The good news is that these efforts are actually starting to pay off. Drug overdose deaths are still way too high. In Ohio, we started with a high-water mark, but after 8 years of more people dying every single year, finally, last year, we saw in Ohio and around the country a reduction in overdose deaths. That is great news. We peaked in 2017 at 72,000 Americans losing their lives. It is the No. 1 cause of death in my home State of Ohio and the No. 1 cause of death for all Americans under the age of 50. The progress has been particularly encouraging in places like Ohio. We saw a 21.4-percent drop in overdose deaths in the first half of last year, 2018. Those are the last numbers we have and the most recent data we have. That was the biggest drop in the Nation, actually, between July of 2017 and June of 2018. So in that 1-year period, according to the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, Ohio had the biggest drop in the country. Again, that was partly because Ohio's numbers were so high. We were second in the Nation in overdose deaths, from that data. Nationally, we are seeing a more promising, if more modest, downturn in overdose deaths. Between September of 2017 and March of 2018, overdose deaths fell from about 72,000 to about 71,000. Overall, the overdose rate dropped in 21 States and nearly a full percentage point nationally. So at least we are seeing some progress finally, after 8 years of increases every year and more and more heartbreak. This is progress. I think we would have been doing even better, frankly, if we hadn't seen the big influx of fentanyl over the last 3 or 4 years. Again, Congress has passed important legislation, but we are pushing up against more and more fentanyl coming into our communities. That is an incredibly powerful synthetic opioid--50 times more powerful than heroin--inexpensive, and it is coming primarily from China and primarily through the U.S. mail system. Our pushback on that more recently that is starting to be effective is called the STOP Act. We just passed it in this body last year. What the STOP Act says is that the post office has to start screening packages, particularly from countries like China, from which we know fentanyl is coming in. They haven't done exactly what we asked them to do yet, but they are doing a better job of stopping the poison from coming in from China, which is where the vast majority comes from. Today, even as we see progress on opioids and as we see somewhat less fentanyl coming in and therefore higher prices for fentanyl on the street, which is important--as we see this progress, we are also seeing something that is very discouraging. What I have been hearing now for over a year from law enforcement, treatment providers, social service providers, and community leaders back home is that there is a resurgence of methamphetamine--pure, powerful crystal meth--coming primarily from Mexico. [[Page S2738]] I meet regularly with treatment providers and drug abuse task forces all over our State. Recently, I talked to community leaders in Knox County, at the Southeast Healthcare Services in Columbus, at the ADAMHS Board in Adams, Lawrence, and Scioto Counties, the Hamilton County Heroin Coalition, and community leaders and law enforcement in Butler County. Every single meeting ended up the same way: We are finally making progress on opioids. Thanks for your help--because all these communities are taking advantage of the legislation we passed here--but the new scourge is crystal meth. Help us with that. Often they are saying that this crystal meth is being laced with something else, sometimes fentanyl. So this same deadly fentanyl we talked about earlier is sometimes now being laced with crystal meth, making for a devastating cocktail. The October 2018 report from Ohio University said that psychostimulants--including methamphetamine--were found in just nine unintentional deaths in 2010. That number rose to 509 in 2017, the most recent data we have. That is an over 5,000-percent increase. Something is happening out there. Again, having finally gotten control of the opioid issue, even the fentanyl, synthetic opioids, which is the latest surge, now we are seeing methamphetamine deaths rising dramatically. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deaths involving cocaine and psychostimulants, including meth, have also increased nationwide in recent years. Among the more than 70,000 drug overdose deaths in 2017, nearly 23,000--nearly one-third--involved psychostimulants such as meth, cocaine, or both. From 2016 to 2017, deaths rates involving cocaine and psychostimulants like meth each increased by approximately 33 percent. This increase is across all demographic groups, all census regions, and in several States. A July 2018 report from the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services highlights the intertwined nature of rising meth usage rates and the ongoing opioid crisis. They said some meth users initially turned to this drug to manage the heavy crashes that followed prolonged use of heroin and other opioids, and then they became just as addicted to meth as they were addicted to opioids. So that is one reason I think we see this increase in methamphetamines in Ohio-- because users are turning to meth to manage the crashes that follow prolonged use of heroin. Meth is now stronger and cheaper than ever before. Again, it is coming almost exclusively to Ohio from Mexico. The days of home chemists and the one-pot meth labs are actually over. You probably heard about it in your community or other States where these meth labs were a big setup, and they created a huge environmental problem, as well as the issue of producing meth, which was devastating communities. Those meth labs are pretty much gone now. In Ohio, there is not a county that tells me there is a meth lab left. That may sound like good news, but it is actually bad news. The meth labs are gone because the meth coming in from Mexico is more powerful and it is cheaper. So why make meth in the basement when you can have crystal meth delivered to your doorstep from Mexico? It is being mass-produced by Mexican drug cartels who are smuggling it into the United States. According to Dennis Lowe, who is the commander of the Major Crimes Unit in Athens, OH, ``[Mexican drug cartels] almost single-handedly eliminated meth labs in the State of Ohio. . . . People are getting better quality product and it's cheaper to buy from a cartel.'' So it is more powerful, more deadly, and cheaper. By the way, one Columbus, OH, enforcement officer recently told me that crystal meth on the streets of Columbus is less expensive than marijuana now--another reason we see it increasing. As I have heard from folks all over Ohio, we are also seeing meth laced with other drugs, including fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine. Many of these cartels splice these drugs into methamphetamine but don't tell the customers, so users may be consuming dangerous opioids without realizing it. Any street drug can be deadly. Much of the methamphetamine, as I said, enters from Mexico through the ports of entry. It comes in bulk through the ports of entry. It is often hidden in cars and trucks. Smugglers make it through the screening process, and they sell it to the distribution network. So we need to do more at the ports of entry to have better screening. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection folks, the amount of methamphetamines seized at our ports of entry has soared from 14,000 pounds in 2012 to 56,000 pounds in 2018--a huge increase. In fact, just in the last year alone, we have seen a 38-percent increase in methamphetamines trafficking across the southern border. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Ohio, the number of crystal meth submissions to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations' lab rose from 2,000 in 2015 to over 12,000 in 2018--in just a 3-year period, a 500-percent increase. What's happening with crystal meth is one reason we need more resources to secure our southern border. It is not just my opinion. The experts at Customs and Border Protection tell us they need more physical barriers; they need more border patrol agents; they need more technology; they need more surveillance; they need more cameras; they need more screening to stop this illegal flow of drugs. I think we are beginning now to make some progress here since we are deploying more sophisticated technology at the ports of entry, and that is smart. But the traffickers are smarter, and they are also learning ways to avoid those ports of entry, to go around them, to cross wherever they can continue this evil and prosperous trade. A story originating in Galion, OH, last year caught the Nation's attention. A 5-year-old was out trick-or-treating for Halloween last year, and he was exposed to meth and began suffering from seizures and other symptoms of meth exposure. Law enforcement checked his Halloween candy, thinking that was the problem, and it was not. It wasn't laced with the drug as they feared. But then they found the meth. It was in his own home--his own family home. His father eventually was charged with possession of drugs and tampering with evidence. But here is a 5-year-old kid suffering from a meth exposure. Two weeks ago, I was in Knox County, OH, Central Ohio, where I participated in a roundtable discussion with local elected leaders and law enforcement officials, mental health recovery folks. This board is focused on the crystal meth problem. Why? Because it is overwhelming them. Opioids used to be their No. 1 issue. Now it is crystal meth. I was told that methamphetamines are now involved in 89 percent of the drug cases in Knox County, and in many cases there is polysubstance abuse or overlap with any combination of meth, heroin, and marijuana. Last August the Knox County Sheriff's Department arrested three individuals who were involved in trafficking, distribution of meth, moving from Columbus into Knox County. By the way, what law enforcement tells me about methamphetamines is that they are causing a new state of crimes, somewhat closer to the cocaine crimes that would have been back in the 1990s when cocaine was the primary concern. Heroin is a drug that does not create the same stimulant effect; it is not a psychostimulant. So the crimes primarily are crimes to pay for the drugs--property crimes--whereas the meth crimes often tend to be crimes of violence because it is a stimulant like cocaine. So law enforcement tells me they are very concerned. Their jails are being crowded now with meth users who are there for serious crimes. The big issue they are looking at is this: How do you get people through successful recovery? Here is the other bad news: We do not know much about how to help people in recovery with methamphetamines. We know that with regard to opioids, there are medication-assisted treatments that can be used, and, in general, recovery practices that work for opioids can work for meth--taking people through a therapy process--but there are not the drugs to be able to help you [[Page S2739]] through it, as there are with opioids. So it is an even tougher problem in some respects. We talked about the Federal funding that had been awarded to Knox County when I was there, and they are really happy about it. They are getting money through the 21st Century Cures funding that came from here, then went to the State of Ohio, and went down to them. They are getting money from my CARA legislation, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. They are also getting funding from the Drug-Free Communities Act--legislation that I authored when I was in the House of Representatives many years ago, and it is being used for prevention very effectively in some of these counties. The one thing they said about the funding was that they want to be sure that there is more flexibility, particularly in the 21st Century Cures fund. So it can be used not just for opioids but also for dealing with this meth issue, which is their big problem now. So my hope is that we will begin to see some flexibility in those funding streams to be able to help places like Knox County. We need to build a sustainable infrastructure for prevention, treatment, and longer term recovery from all drugs. For these communities, having that flexibility gives them the ability to respond to whatever the latest problem is that is facing their community. The U.S. Attorney's Office based in Cleveland, OH, which is led by Justin Herdman, has been deeply involved in this effort to combat the spread and distribution of meth. Last August his office indicted eight people in Federal Court for their efforts to create a methamphetamine and cocaine trafficking supply network--a supply chain from Mexico all the way to Ohio. In connection to these arrests, DEA agents seized more than 144 pounds of meth from a warehouse outside of Cleveland. It is believed to be the largest seizure of methamphetamine in Ohio history. Again, it demonstrates just how serious this threat is and how these criminal organizations pose such a threat to our State and our country. Back in 2005, Congress passed a bill on meth. It was called the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act. It regulated the over-the-counter sale of certain drugs, like epinephrine, because of their use in the manufacture of methamphetamines. This helped to combat the ability of the meth producers to manufacture cheap methamphetamine from over-the- counter medicines that were easy to get. It dropped the price and reduced its availability. However, Mexican cartels have now again supplanted these domestic labs so that legislation is no longer effective because here we are laden with these cheap, high quality, crystal meth supplies from Mexico. As the public learns more about the dangers of opioids and works to wean themselves off those drugs, methamphetamine, if left unchecked, is primed now to become the new drug of choice, perpetuating the cycle of abuse. We cannot let that happen. As we begin to make progress again on the opioid epidemic, which is the worst drug crisis in the history of our country--and remains so--we can't take our eye off the ball. What we are doing is actually helping in the fight against opioids. We need to keep it up. We are actually making progress, finally. We have to keep the pressure on. But my question is, What do we do about the next wave coming? What do we do about the methamphetamine that is coming into my State and your State? First, we need to continue awareness about the issue of addiction generally. This is not about one drug or just opioids or just meth or just cocaine. It is about the overall addiction--treating addiction like a disease, which it is; providing better treatment so that people can get back on their feet; providing longer term recovery. So raising that awareness generally is important, not just as to opioids but as to addiction, which is really the issue. Second, we have to do more on our southwest borders to stop the flow of this crystal meth coming in. It is not the ultimate solution because there is enough demand in America for this drug. It will find its way in, but we can stop some of it. We are beginning to do that. At a minimum, we can raise the price on the street, which is one of the problems right now. As I said, it is incredibly inexpensive. As one law enforcement person told me, it is less expensive than marijuana in some cities of America. Next, we need to do more to support Federal prevention programs that can address this issue--prevention, education, awareness. This is ultimately the most effective way to stop this epidemic from growing. One tool to do that is called the Drug-Free Communities Act. It has established more than 2,000 coalitions now around the country. Let's continue to support those coalitions. Very little Federal money has gone in compared to the private-sector money, the State and local money, the foundation money, but it leverages some of that other money. We need to continue to support these community foundations. Next, let's start a new prevention program focused on this meth challenge. One place we could find that funding, by the way, is in the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. We authorized and then actually appropriated $10 million for a national prevention program. We allowed HSS to set that up. They haven't done it yet. I think it is important that we do it. I would take that $10 million and multiply it manyfold by using it as leverage to go out to the private sector, to encourage foundations, companies, pharma companies, and others to help in this effort. I believe there is an interest in that. I know there is. Let's do a massive prevention program because that may be, in the end, the most effective way to keep people from getting into the funnel of addiction in the first place. Next, we need to continue to expand and support these high intensity drug trafficking areas. They really work. I will tell you, in Ohio, when you have Federal resources, combined with State and local resources, when they are coordinated together, focused on this drug issue, they make a lot of sense. They have stopped a lot of the meth distribution, as I said, in Ohio. I talked about what happened in Northeast Ohio. There was the largest meth seizure ever. That was through the HIDTA Program. Next, we need a more effective treatment for meth. NIDA--the National Institute on Drug Abuse--and the NIH--the National Institutes of Health--are working on answers. But we need new medications so we can assist with quality treatment to help those suffering from addiction get into recovery. This is a major challenge. I spoke to Scott Gottlieb today, who is a former FDA Commissioner, about this issue, and I have talked to others. We need to do everything we can to support efforts to try to come up with medication that can assist with regard to the treatment for these psychostimulant drugs. Finally, we have to be sure that the communities have more flexibility to use the Federal funding they are already getting through Cures, through the State Opioid Response grants, to address issues like meth. I am exploring whether legislation is necessary to provide that flexibility, but I believe a lot of it could be provided through the administration of these grants and through the States. I will continue to ensure that the Federal Government is a better partner for those working on the frontlines on this drug epidemic. Opioids--yes, we need to keep up the fight. We are finally making progress. After 8 years of increases in opioid deaths, finally last year, for the first time in 8 years, we are seeing a reduction of those deaths--the worst drug epidemic in the history of our country. It is not a time for us to pull back. It is time to focus on what is working and do more of it. But, also, we have these new challenges, particularly crystal meth. We need to do a better job of addressing that, as we talked about today. Working together, I believe we can make a difference. I believe we can turn the tide on addiction in this country. Thank you. I yield back. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. [[Page S2740]] The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
All in Senate sectionPrev55 of 81Next