Stop the Importation and Trafficking of Synthetic Analogues Act of 2017

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Chairman, this is a bipartisan amendment that incorporates an interagency agreement transmitted to Congress by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and the United States Department of Justice.

It clarifies several issues: when the Attorney General can temporarily and permanently schedule a drug or substance to the newly created schedule A, and it prevents the Attorney General from permanently scheduling a drug or substance if the Secretary of HHS determines that there is not sufficient potential for abuse.

It also clarifies when research can be conducted with a schedule A substance while a registration application is pending. If an applicant is registered to conduct research with a schedule I or II substance, they can continue to do research they may be pursuing with a schedule A substance while their application is being processed.

Likewise, if an applicant is registered to conduct research with a schedule III, IV, or V substance, they can continue to conduct research with a schedule A substance while their application is pending, so long as the component that gave rise to the schedule A determination is in the same or a less restricted schedule.

This amendment is important to research. This amendment will help ensure that research is not impeded or stunted because of a change in the schedule of a substance. While we all want to get dangerous substances off the street, history has taught us that when a substance is scheduled, many research options are taken off the table or made prohibitively complicated.

Sometimes derivatives of dangerous substances can provide cures and treatments for deadly diseases or chronic conditions, and we don't want to hamstring our researchers who are equipped to discover potential positive uses.

Though it may still need to be a scheduled substance, an analogue, in theory, could be a less addictive term of an opioid pain relief, and if researchers are looking at it as a possible less addictive form, I believe we would all want to keep that research going and not impede that research as it moves forward.

So I believe this is an important amendment, and I hope everybody will join me in supporting it. I thank Mr. Raskin and Ms. Jackson Lee for their assistance and support of this amendment as well.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Chairman, I yield as much time as he might consume to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Marino).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source