Hearing of House Committee on Science House of Representatives: H.R. 798, Methamphetamine Remediation Research Act of 2005
HEARING OF HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: H.R. 798, METHAMPHETAMINE REMEDIATION RESEARCH ACT OF 2005
March 3, 2005
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Mr. Reichert. That is okay, Mr. Chairman. I am the new guy here, but I do have a keen interest in this topic for a number of reasons. Sheriff, just eight weeks ago, I was a Sheriff, so I know exactly what you are dealing with. I was the Sheriff of King County in Seattle, Washington. And about 10 years ago, you may recall, DEA made an announcement, meth will be the next dangerous drug that we are going to have to deal with across this nation. About five years ago in King County, we pulled together a team of people, statewide, Sheriffs, Police Chiefs, and every discipline, and what I am pleased to see today is that you have come together here as a team, because this doesn't just touch law enforcement or firefighters or environmentalists. This really touches at the heart of this country. This touches our children.
And that is the second thing I want to talk about. One of my grandchildren happens to be a baby who was born to a mother who was addicted to methamphetamines. And he right now is almost three years old and is dealing with some learning disabilities and also has some breathing issues as, I think, one of the witnesses testified to today as a possible health side effect.
Third, this drug is so dangerous, it takes--if you are hooked on this drug for one year, it can take five years to kick it. At first, it was thought that you couldn't kick it. So two years--one year--two years, you can lose 10 years of your life. And that is the reality of this drug, and that is why it is so important for us to fight this battle.
As a citizen, I was asleep one night at home, and I heard some noise outside my driveway. So, still as the Sheriff, I thought I would investigate that and discovered that a mobile meth lab had pulled into my driveway in a rural area southeast of Seattle, packed with chemicals, packed also with two people carrying guns, looking to do a drive-by who felt they were being ripped off, another danger to our community. We have established, in Washington State, throughout the state, meth action teams. And in King County, we have a 35-member team, and I will just list some of the disciplines very quickly as to those people who are a part of those teams: law enforcement, social and health services, education, environmental, real estate, federal, prosecuting attorneys, the Congressional delegation. All of those people have come--prevention, intervention, and treatment. Those people all have come together to address this issue. In fact, Dr. Keppoy--I am sorry, James Kopple, I saw walk in, was one of the people who helped us in the State of Washington put our meth action teams together, so I think he would be a great resource for you coming from the National Crime Prevention Council.
My question is, as you move together as a team, do you see this legislation helping you develop partnerships in some of these areas that I mentioned so we can have a holistic approach to this problem? Anybody?
Ms. Green. Congressman, I certainly do. I think this is probably one of the best mechanisms that I have seen in recent years to ensure--and from my perspective, one of the things I am very much interested in is ensuring that accurate information gets to policy-makers who are making decisions on--about what will happen in their state. And I think it is one of the best mechanisms I have seen to ensure that, on an issue where legislation and policy must keep pace with innovations in research and technology, to ensure that state-of-the-art information gets to all of the different constituencies and disciplines that have to, basically, address the issues arising from methamphetamine laboratories, whether it is trying to decide what particular protocols to use with children who have been removed or attempting to deal with what kind of liability issues and cleanup issues you may have, either in a rural area, or as people are now talking to us about, in apartments and hotel rooms. I think it is a very critical mechanism to ensure that kind of collaboration and the widespread dissemination of accurate information about how to address these methamphetamine laboratories.
Mr. Reichert. Let me just comment, too, that when we started our effort to fight meth in the State of Washington, we were number two in the state as to the number of meth labs in the country. Today, we are number six. The county just south of King County, where I was the Sheriff, last year, however, had 500 labs. King County had about 250. We have made some progress. And I think with NCPC's help, hopefully you could connect up with the National Crime Prevention Council, and there is also another organization called the Pierce County Alliance, which has made great progress in studying the effects on children and also some of the effects on the community as a whole.
So thank you very much, and thank you all for your hard work. And Sheriff, it is nice to have another Sheriff in town.
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