Dangerous Synthetic Drug Control Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Pallone for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Dangerous Synthetic Drug Control Act, which will reclassify 22 dangerous synthetic substances as schedule I substances subject to the control and enforcement associated with schedule I substances.

Mr. Speaker, the community I represent, like every community represented in this Chamber, has been visited by the tragedy of fatal drug overdoses. We know the statistics nationally--opioid deaths are in the 30,000 neighborhood. That is a tragedy around the country.

The substances that we reclassify today include some of the fentanyl substances that are often associated with the most gruesome overdoses often mixed with heroin.

My colleagues will remember that fentanyl is the drug actually responsible for the overdose death of the musician Prince and, sadly, is pervasive through our communities.

The synthetic drugs that are being scheduled today through this bill are particularly pernicious because they are marketed often in corner retail establishments and often in ways designed to appeal to young people in colored packages with names like K2 and Spice, clearly targeting our youngest constituents.

We are engaged, of course, in a cat-and-mouse game with the producers of these substances because as soon as a substance is scheduled, a chemist somewhere figures out a slight alteration to the formula in such a way that now they have a drug which is untested and unproven but mimics some of the effects of a scheduled drug; but we have no idea what the effects are, and all too often those effects can be devastating to the individual using them.

This bill, again, will take 22 of those dangerous substances and classify them into schedule I. This is going to make my community in southwestern Connecticut safer, and it will make communities throughout this country safer.

I really want to thank, in particular, Congressman Dent for his very hard work on this, and Chairman Upton and Ranking Member Pallone for expediting this bill in a way that I know is going to make a very positive difference in our communities.

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