If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. Union Calendar No. 331~~ 99th Congress, 2d Session - - - - - - - - - - - House Report 99-570 VCLANDESTiNk MANUFACTURING OF DAN~OUS DRUGS THIRTY~THIRD REPORT BY THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS \ , -Committed' to the C~mmittee of the Whole House on the ate of the Union and ordered to be printed U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE • -- WASHINGTON: 1986 ............ COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS JACK BROOKS, Texas, Chairman DON FUQUA, Florida FRANK HORTON, New York JOHN CONYERS, JR., Michigan THOMAS N. KINDNESS, Ohio CARDISS COLLINS, illinois ROBERT S. WALKER, Pennsylvania GLENN ENGLISH, Oklahoma WILLIAM F. CLINGER, JR., Pennsylvania HENRY A. WAXMAN, California ALFRED A. (AL) McCANDLESS, California TED WEISS, New York LARRY E. CRAIG, Idaho MIKE SYNAR, Oklahoma HOWARD C. NIELSON, utah STEPHEN L. NEAL, North Carolina JIM SAXTON, New Jersey DOUG BARNARD, JR., Georgia PATRICK L. SWINDALL, Georgia BARNEY FRANK, Massachusetts THOMAS D. (TOM) DELAY, Texas TOM LANTOS. California JOSEPH J. DIOGUARDI, New York ROBERT E. wiSE, JR., West Virginia RICHARD K. ARMEY, Texas BARBARA BOXER, California JIM LIGHTFOOT, Iowa SANDER M. LEVIN, Michigan JOHN R. MILLER, Washington MAJOR R. OWENS, New York BEAU BOULTER, Texas EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York JOHN E. GROTBERG, illinois JOHN M. SPRATT, JR., South Carolina JOE KOLTER, Pennsylvania BEN ERDREICH. Alabama GERALD D. KLECZKA, Wisconsin ALBERT G. BUSTAMANTE, Texas MATTHEW G. MARTINEZ, California WILLIAM M. JONES, General Counsel STEPHEN M. DANIELS, Minority Staff Director and Counsel GOVERNMENT INFORMATION, JUSTICE, AND AGRICULTURE SUBCOMMITI'EE GLENN ENGLISH, Oklahoma, Chairman GERALD D. KLECZKA, Wisconsin THOMAS N. KINDNESS, Ohio STEPHEN L. NEAL, North Carolina JIM LIGHTFOOT, Iowa ROBERT E. WISE, JR., West Virginia JOSEPH J. DIOGUARDI, New York EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York JOHN R. MILLER, Washington JOHN M. SPRATT, JR., South Carolin!. Ex OFFICIO JACK BROOKS, Texas FRANK HORTON, New York WILUAM G. LAWRENCE, Cuunsel EUPHON L. METZGER, Clerk JOHN .J. PARISI, Minority Professional Staff (iO .., . LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, DC, April So, 1986. Hon. THOMAS P. O'NEILL, Jr., Speaker of the House of Representatives, Washington} DC. ~~ DEAR MR. SPEAKER: By direction of the Committee on Govern~ ment Operations, I submit herewith the committee's thirty-third report to the 99th Congress. The committee's report is based on a study made by its Government Information, Justice, and Agricul­ ture Subcommittee, JACK BROOKS, Chairman. (III) u.~. Department of Justice NatIonal Institute of Justice This document has been re roduc pers?n or organization origin~ting it e:; ?xactly .as received from the In thIs document are those of th . omts of vIew or opinions stated repr~sent the official position or peor~thors ahnd do. not necessarily Just/ce. ICles of t e NatIonal Institute of Permission to reproduce this' . granted by ~ matenal has been Public Domain Cornmi ttee 6;;n;r:;Go~~::e=rnm==-en---:t-0pe--r-a-t-ions to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). FUrther reproduction outsid f h sion of the ~wner. e 0 t e NCJRS system requires permis- CONTENTS Page 1. Introduction............................................................................................................... 1 II. Findings and conclusions........................................................................................ 3 III. Discussion .................................................................................................................. 4 IV. Recommendations .................................................................................................... 16 (v) Union Calendar No. 331 99TH CONGRESS } REPORT 2dBession HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES { 99-570 CLANDESTINE MANUFACTURING OF DANGEROUS DRUGS APRIL 30, 1986.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. BROOKS, from the Committee on Government Operations, submitted the following THIRTY~THIRD REPORT BASED ON A STUDY BY THE GOVERNMENT INFORMATION, JUSTICE, AND AGRICULTURE SUBCOMMITTEE On April 22, 1986, the Committee on Government Operations ap­ proved and adopted a report entitled "Clandestine Manufacturing of Dangerous Drugs." The chairman was directed to transmit a copy to the Speaker of the House. 1. INTRODUCTION The Government Operations' Subcommittee on Government In­ formation, Justice, and Agriculture is responsible for oversight of the Department of Justice and its subordinate agencies. For the past 4 years the subcommittee has been engaged in a comprehen­ sive review of the Federal effort against drug trafficking, which has included hearings at which the various enforcement and intel­ ligence programs of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have been examined. 1 1 On February 22, 1982, the Subcommittee on Government Information, Justice, and Agricul­ ture began a review of Federal antinarcotics programs. Sir..ce that time the subcommittee has convened 32 hearings and issued 3 related reports: Military Assistance to Civilian Narcotics Law Enforcement, an Interim Report, House Report No. 97-921, October 1, 1982; Interim Report on the War Against Drug Smuggling-The Soft Underbelly of the United States, House Report No. 98-444, October 27, 1983; and Commercial Production and Distribution of Domestic Marijuana, House Report No. 98-461, November 22,1983. The subcommittee has issued two additional reports examining cooperative programs in the Federal, State and local law enforcement infrastructure, both of which are related in some measure to drug enforcement: Justice Department Management of the Law Enforcement Coordi­ nating Committee Program, House Report No. 98-1110, September 28, 1984; and Regional Infor­ mation Sharing Systems-Their Place in the National Criminal Justice System, House Report No. 99-216, July 22, 1985. 58-377 0 2 This report presents the results of the committee's study of illicit domestic drug manufacturing, an area in which DEA conducts ex­ tensive enforcement operations. DEA also provides assistance to State and local police agencies on a broad range of issues, to in­ clude joint task forces, training, intelligence sharing, grants, and maintenance of national statistics. The committee's review has documented that, in addition to the well known national drug problem involving heroin and cocaine, almost all of which is imported in finished form, there is an equal­ ly alarming problem with illegal domestic manufacturing and abuse of other very potent substances, which are referred to for statistical purposes as "dangerous drugs." This report is primarily concerned with three such drugs: The stimulants amphetamine and methamphetamine, the hallucinogenic drug phencyclidine (PCP), and, increasingly, cocaine which is imported in raw form for final processing in the United States. Other drugs which are also classi­ fied as "dangerous drugs" include legitimate pharmaceutical drugs which are diverted from licit sources, and the illicit drugs LSD, methaqualone (Quaaludes), psilocybrin, and what are commonly re­ ferred to as "designer drugs." Some controlled precursor chemicals and variants of more common drugs are also classified as "dangerous drugs" for pur­ poses of this report. They include such substances as piperidine (a precursor for PCP); and P2P, an immediate precursor for ampheta­ mine and methamphetamine. A new variant of cocaine in the United States results from clan­ destine conversion of street cocaine into an extremely potent vari­ ant called "rock" or "crack." This new drug has recently been in­ troduced on the streets of New York and other major cities, where local authorities are reporting extremely rapid cases of addiction among young people. 2 The discussion section of this report frequently refers to the chemicals used in producing dangerous drugs, some of which are legally controlled substances and others of which are not. Three general classes of chemicals are utilized in the manufacturing proc­ ess: Precursors, which react with each other to form the end prod­ uct; solvents and reagents, which facilitate the reaction process but are not chemically represented in the finished product; and dil­ uents, USUally inert substances which are often added to the rm­ ished quantity to expand its apparent weight and volume by dilut­ ing it. The subcommittee conducted two hearings on clandestine drug laboratories.3 The first was convened in Oklahoma City, OK, on September 24, 1985, and the second in Washington, DC, on Decem­ ber 5, 1985. Agencies providing testimony included: DEA; the Ar­ kansas State Police; the Florida Department of Law Enforcement ,(FDLE); the Maryland State Police; the Oklahoma Bureau of Nar­ cotics and Dangerous Drugs (OBN); the Oklahoma State Bureau of ""A New, Purified Form of Cocaine Causes Alarm as Abuse Increases," the New York Times, November 29, 1985. Thia article is reproduced in the hearings appendix. 3 "The Clandestine Manufacture of Illicit Drugs", hearings before a subcommittee of the Com­ mittee on Government Operations, HQuse of Representatives, 99th CQngress, 1st sess., herein­ after cited as "hearings." 3 Investigations; the district attorney, Oklahoma County, OK; and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). The witnesses were unanimous in stating that the problems sur­ rounding dangerous drug enforcement and abuse are on the in­ crease. They expressed concern for the safety of officers and by­ stand.ers in areas where clandestine