Chuck Grassley: “Last month I held a hearing on the Ecstasy problem affecting today's youth. At that hearing the White House released a…”

“Last month I held a hearing on the Ecstasy problem affecting today's youth. At that hearing the White House released a Pulse Check report on drug trends over the past year. I would like to draw my colleagues' attention to the information in this report. Drug use in our nation is still increasing. The Pulse Check report found that for most drugs, the availability and usage has been getting worse. It is clear we must take further steps to combat this increase in availability. The report included information collected from cities all over the country, both urban and rural. It found that heroin use is increasing relative to cocaine. The availability of heroin has been increasing. In fact, drug experts reported that heroin is readily available on our streets, and about half of these experts stated that access to heroin is getting easier. Heroin purity is also increasing, especially as Colombian white heroin is showing up on our door. One major trend found across the nation is that more and more young people are taking up heroin. This is a scourge that must be stopped. There is another drug that's devastating our young people: Ecstasy and other so-called 'club drugs.' The report highlighted the dramatic increases in use, particularly among teenagers. Eighteen of twenty cities in the report found Ecstasy to be an emerging concern.”