Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act

GARRETT LEE SMITH MEMORIAL ACT -- (House of Representatives - September 08, 2004)

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 2634) to amend the Public Health Service Act to support the planning, implementation, and evaluation of organized activities involving statewide youth suicide early intervention and prevention strategies, to provide funds for campus mental and behavioral health service centers, and for other purposes, as amended.

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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 2634 and commend Senator GORDON SMITH and his family for helping to put the spotlight on this problem. I am happy to be the original sponsor, along with the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne), for the second part of this legislation dealing with the mental and behavioral health of young people on our college campuses.

I was pleased to have our bill, H.R. 3593, the Campus Care and Counseling Act, combined with the gentleman from Tennessee's suicide bill to produce the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act. According to a survey described in the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2002, depression among college freshmen has nearly doubled, from 8.2 percent to 16.3. Along with depression, the number of suicidal students tripled and the number of students seen after a sexual assault quadrupled. Without treatment, researchers noted that depressed adolescents are at risk for school failure, social isolation, promiscuity, self-medication with drugs and alcohol, and suicide.

I agree with the gentleman from Tennessee relative to some of the parental consent language. However, it is a good bill that leads us in the direction of dealing with a major health problem. Again I thank the gentleman from Ohio for yielding me this time.