Legislators Tackle Methamphetamine Addiction

The House Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources held a hearing recently on "Law Enforcement and the Fight Against Methamphetamine," the Legal Action Center recently reported.

The hearing was held to give committee members an opportunity to listen to law enforcement personnel speak about the scope and impact of methamphetamine trafficking and use. Instead, in opening comments and questions, a number of Subcommittee members spoke about the need to focus on drug prevention and treatment.

Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) spoke about the devastating effect that addiction has on the individual, family, neighborhood and community, and emphasized the need to increase resources to help individuals suffering with addiction. Ranking Member Cummings also expressed his concern that people who were struggling with addiction and exiting the criminal justice system were largely unable to get jobs and support their family and would recidivate.

Rep. John Mica (R-FL) spoke about the need for a multifaceted approach to drug abuse and addiction and emphasized that there needed to be a greater focus on education and treatment in order to most effectively reduce the number of individuals struggling with addiction. Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) expressed concern that although her state's prisons were filled with people who had been arrested for methamphetamine and were addicted to the drug, there was a severe lack of drug treatment available to people in need.

In his closing comments, Subcommittee Chairman Mark Souder (R-IN) emphasized his support for additional resources being utilized for drug prevention efforts. Chairman Souder expressed that he had been working with the Congressional leadership and ONDCP Director John Walters to add money for drug prevention and for more resources for community drug coalitions.

A number of panelists also acknowledged the need for people struggling with methamphetamine addiction to have better access to drug treatment. Scott Burns of the ONDCP spoke about the widespread nature of addiction nationally and emphasized that increasing availability to treatment and supports for people in recovery would result in reduced demand for methamphetamine. Domingo Herraiz of the U.S. Department of Justice addressed about the need for more money for the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) program, which provides drug treatment services for incarcerated individuals, and about the effectiveness of drug courts and transitional programs for individuals reentering from the criminal justice system. He emphasized the need to address the problem of methamphetamine abuse with a coordinated, proactive effort.

Two private-sector witnesses, Linda Suydam of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association and Mary Ann Wagner of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, also noted the need for additional programs that concentrate on prevention and treatment of methamphetamine addiction.

Legislators in the 108th Congress introduced many pieces of legislation to address the supply-side issues of methamphetamine production; the fate of those bills is uncertain.

(12/3/2004)