Urge Your Senators to Support Important Meth Legislation May 22, 2007 BACKGROUND Senators Durbin, Feinstein and Grassley have long been supporters of efforts to reduce drug use throughout the country, particularly meth. In recent weeks, they, and a number of other Senators, including Cantwell, Clinton, Feingold, Harkin, Kohl, Johnson and Obama, have co-sponsored several bills in an effort to protect our nation’s children and to reduce the harms associated with the use and production of meth.

On April 25, 2007, the Drug Endangered Children (DEC) Act of 2007 and the Saving Kids from Dangerous Drugs Act of 2007 both were introduced in the Senate. These bills, S.1210 and S. 1211, respectively, seek to protect minors from the ravages of meth. Senate Bill 1276, the Methamphetamine Production Prevention Act of 2007, was introduced on May 3 and establishes a grant program to facilitate the creation of electronic logbook systems for meth precursors.

DEC Act
If passed, the DEC Act will reauthorize the grant program originally authorized in the USA Patriot Reauthorization Act, at a level $20 million level for an additional two years (fiscal years 2008 and 2009). These grants allow States to develop Drug Endangered Children programs and interagency protocols to coordinate the efforts of law enforcement, medical services, and child welfare workers, to ensure that children found in these environments receive appropriate attention and care. Current Co-sponsors Include: Richard Durbin (D-IL), Russell Feingold (D-WI), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) Charles Grassley (R-IA), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Herbert Kohl (D-WI).

The Saving Kids from Dangerous Drugs Act Currently, federal law enhances the criminal penalties that apply when a person sells drugs to anyone under age 21. When this occurs, the federal penalties are doubled (or tripled for a repeat offense), and a penalty of at least one year must be applied. But this enhancement only applies if actual “distribution” to a minor is proven. The Saving Kids from Dangerous Drugs Act would apply the current penalty enhancement to anyone who “manufactures, creates, distributes, or possesses with intent to distribute a controlled substance that is flavored, colored, packaged or otherwise altered in a way that is designed to make it more appealing to a person under 21 years of age, or who attempts or conspires to do so.” Current Co-sponsors Include: Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Charles Grassley (R-IA), Tim Johnson (D-SD)

Methamphetamine Production Prevention Act of 2007
The Methamphetamine Production Prevention Act revises the technical logbook requirements in the Combat Meth Act that was enacted in 2006. If passed, the Act will create a federal grant program to provide funds on a priority to states to create or enhance electronic logbook systems to record each purchase of meth precursors and stop smurfing across state and county lines. The Act also will assist law enforcement in combating the meth epidemic by improving the effectiveness of the electronic logbook systems. Current Co-sponsors Include: Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Charles Grassley (R-IA), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Barrack Obama (D-IL)

WHAT YOU CAN DO
If your Senator is listed above as a co-sponsor, use the Capitol Switchboard (202-224-3121) to call and thank them. If your Senators are not listed above, use CADCA’s CapWiz system to contact them and ask them to co-sponsor and/or support the Drug Endangered Children Act of 2007, the Saving Kids from Dangerous Drugs Act of 2007 and the Methamphetamine Production Prevention Act of 2007. Enlist other people/groups in your state and community to do the same. TIMING The various committees that have jurisdiction over these bill are expected to begin considering them in the near future. It is imperative that you fax and/or call your legislators IMMEDIATELY. CADCA’s fax system allows you to automatically fax CADCA’s sample letter on this issue to your legislators from CADCA's website. To send faxes to your legislators, go to http://capwiz.com/cadca/home/. If you would like to personalize your letter with examples from your community, please email [email protected] for a MS Word version of the sample letter.

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