Jay Rockefeller: “the Senate has passed an important bill, Chairman Grassley's Improving Outcomes for Children Affected by ``Meth'' Act of…”

“the Senate has passed an important bill, Chairman Grassley's Improving Outcomes for Children Affected by ``Meth'' Act of 2006. This legislation will reauthorize the Safe and Stable Families Program and target $40 million in new funding to programs to help children affected by methamphetamine abuse and addiction. West Virginia, like all too many States, is facing severe problems with a methamphetamine epidemic. There is by all reports a rapid spread and growth of this pernicious addiction. SAMSHA reports that methamphetamine abuse has increased more than 420 percent for persons 12 years and older during the past decade. And according to a well- cited National Association of Counties survey, the epidemic is no longer targeting rural States like my own. Much to my dismay we are finding addicts in suburban high schools as well as urban areas. Addicts are white and blue collar workers and the unemployed who are in their twenties or thirties. Use is equally divided among males and females. The legislation offered today is part of the reauthorization for the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program. Our child welfare system relies on the principles and services mandated by Safe and Stable Families Programs. I have wholeheartedly worked on this program since its inception in 1993. I have continued over the years to support modifications that fit the changing needs of the children.…”