Mr. BENSINGER. Mr. Chairman, the Select Committee has focused, and I think with success, on narcotics problems, basically narcotics from overseas, many times. I am delighted today that you are putting the spotlight on basically a problem that originates within this country. Not heroin from Mexico or Turkey or Southeast Asia, but PCP that is made clandestinely in the United States.

It is a domestic drug problem which is extensive in scope, frightening in impact, in its aftereffect, and its abuse. It is in need of better control from a regulatory standpoint, and a much better deterrent and punishment for the dealers in PCP.

It shocks me to know that out of the individuals sentenced in Federal court last year, 49.4 percent received probation under the Youth Corrections Act, or a fine only or a suspended sentence for trafficking in PCP.

The year before, this statistic was 53 percent. The sentencing that has been meted out to the individuals DEA has in fact arrested shows that in 1976 only 45.5 percent were sent to prison. The length of that prison sentence was 35.3 months, less than 3 years, which, as you know, under our Federal statutes enables the defendant to be eligible for parole in 1 year or less.

Also, 1977 was worse. In 1977, the average length of prison sentence for some 247 defendants that were totally sentenced, and only 125 of that number got to prison, was 24.9 months, 2 years, eligible for parole in 8 months. That is no punishment at all for the kind of money that is made in PCP.

That is one of the reasons, gentlemen, I feel we need in the enforcement field the help of the Congress. Because the present statutes only provide for up to a maximum of 5 years' penalty. As you can see, the judges are providing only half of that in one-half of the cases they are looking at.

Mr. WOLFF. However, now we have heard that people who are dealing in PCP, the big dealers are starting to get into this. But isn't this mostly an amateur business today?

Mr. BENSINGER. Not really. I think probably Jim can talk effectively about some of the very complex conspiratorial organizations who, by the way-let me cite an example. This is in my prepared statement.

Seventeen search warrants were executed on December 17, 1977. The following seizures were effected: 104.5 pounds of PCP, 869 pounds of PCC, the immediate precursor to PCP, 11 tons of chemicals used in the manufacture of methaqualone, a multistation tableting press, and various laboratory equipment. The seizure was the largest PCP seizure effected to date.

Five defendants were charged with felony counts of conspiracy to manufacture, possession with intent to distribute, and aiding and abetting. Two of the defendants cooperated with Federal prosecutors and received probationary sentences. Bearing in mind the seriousness of this case, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles assigned two senior assistant U.S. attorneys to prosecute the three remaining defendants. After a 2-week trial, all three were found guilty. Only one defendant received a sentence of incarceration and that was for only 3 years. Now, anyone dealing with 11 tons of chemicals, 105 pounds of PCP, and almost 900 pounds of precursors, is big criminal business.

There are opportunities to get into this business for the small operator; it doesn't require a big investment. I think the Congressman from California described a $500 to $1,500 investment, and that could in fact put somebody into the PCP business.

But one of the major problems we have got to address is sentencing, and the deterrent that is needed.

Another is regulatory control. I think, as you pointed out, Mr. Chairman, we also need better public awareness. Basically, the PCP distribution system depends not on a legitimate manufactured drug like amphetamines or barbiturates, but clandestinely manufactured PCP. The molecules you saw, sprinkled on substances such as parsley, put into tablets, put into liquid, put into rock crystal, is being distributed principally to the young population of the United States.

There has been a monitoring effort that DEA has gotten involved in. Since August of last year, over 12 months ago, I directed the agency to include PCP among its dangerous drugs receiving priority attention. As you can see from the charts, over 64 PCP labs were seized in 1977 as compared to 30 in 1976. In terms of any other drug, PCP abuse clearly is the most widespread and rapid, and is in need of enforcement attention.

The labs are located on the west coast, in the Midwest, near Detroit and Chicago, and on the east coast. But the distribution of PCP ranges from Texas and Florida all of the way up to New England and the west coast. It is inexpensive, it is readily available to be manufactured, and we have got to address ourselves to not only arresting and investigating the principals, but also to trying to control the raw materials. That is why we rescheduled the PCP product itself from schedule III to schedule II, and moved to put analogs, which are similar chemical look-alikes, in schedule I. HEW's Julius B. Richmond, Assistant Secretary for Health, advised us formally on August 7 that they concurred, in fact they recommended schedule I for these key analogs. We will have in the Federal Register this Friday that representation. So we will be moving to control some of the basic raw materials, as well as the precursors, PCC and PHP.

In addition, the enforcement effort we have directed is national in scope. All of our domestic regions have embarked upon a special action program. It was directed that we would expect to seize in the next 4 months 5 million dosage units, over 100 major violators targeted, and 17 clandestine labs seized.

So far, we have exceeded in the first month of our operation our goal of 16 labs seized by almost 50 percent of that total. The number of arrests are proceeding as scheduled; the number of dosage units seized already in the first month of operation are 2.2 million dosage

units.

The PCP enforcement activity varies and includes investigations that would be of the type that Jim Smith would conduct, working with local State task forces throughout the United States, trying to develop investigations of a more local and regional nature.

The PCP scheduling that I mentioned took place in February for the product itself, and that was followed on May 17 by two precursors, which have been placed now on schedule II as well.

Finally, I would add, in closing, sir, that the legislative need for stronger sentencing is overriding in my opinion. It will continue to encourage heroin traffickers to move to PCP. Why? Little investment, very little risk of sentence, very little risk of fine or punishment and considerable profits.

The loser, of course, is the American people and the users of PCP, who have such an unreliable and dangerous product, such a deadly product. I am sure Jim Smith would be happy to talk with you about his own experiences as a criminal investigator. I certainly, as an agency head, feel this is one of the most serious problems facing the United States and our agency in drug enforcement today.

[Mr. Bensinger's prepared statement appears on p. 94.] Mr. WOLFF. Thank you very much. Dr. Czechowicz.

TESTIMONY OF DORYNNE CZECHOWICZ, M.D., SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR OF THE DIVISION OF COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE, AND CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE PCP TASK FORCE, ACCOMPANIED BY DR. ROBERT C. PETERSEN, NIDA

Dr. CZECHOWICZ. Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee: I thank you for the opportunity to appear today to discuss phencyclidine and NIDA's response to the increasing use of this drug.

I will attempt to briefly summarize the statement.

Mr. WOLFF. Without objection, the entire statement will be included in the record.

Dr. CZECHOWICZ. Thank you. All of the available data sources reveal a marked increase in PCP use. Use among 12- to 17-year-olds doubled from 1976 to 1977. Use among the 18- to 25-year-old age group increased approximately 50 percent. By the end of 1977 an estimated 52 million people between 12 and 25 had experimented

with PCP.

A survey of PCP use among youth in treatment throughout the country revealed that a third of the 2,700 adolescents under age 19 in the drug abuse treatment programs surveyed have used PCP and used it more often than inhalants, sedatives, and cocaine. Females in the survey were as likely to have used PCP as males. Whites were far more likely to have used it than either black or Hispanic clients. PCP use among youths referred for treatment is commonly an integral part of a larger multidrug use pattern.

The most recently available Drug Abuse Warning Network data reveals an increase over the last 2 years in the number of people having problems resulting from the use of PCP. However, PCP accounted for 2 percent of the drug mentions in emergency rooms for the reporting period October through December 1977.

A greater percentage of persons reported in emergency rooms or medical examiner's offices with problems attributed to Valium, 11.8 percent, Dalmane, 2.5 percent, alcohol in combination with another drug, 11.5 percent, heroin, 4.9 percent, and aspirin, 4 percent.

Mr. WOLFF. Is that just related to drug abuse emergency room visits?

Dr. CZECHOWICZ. No; that is both medical and emergency room data.

Mr. WOLFF. But the percentages are drug abuse?

Dr. CZECHOWICZ. Right; those are people experiencing problems with PCP or other drugs that are presented in crisis situations.

Nearly all of the emergency room cases were persons under age 30; 73 percent of those were male and 58 percent were white.

In order to provide sensitive and current data about drug use patterns, the Institute has developed a growth index program using data provided through the DAWN network. Under this system Institute officials are made aware whenever any one of 300 monitored drugs approaches certain predetermined danger limits. Charts 7 and 8, containing data based on a 3-month moving average, give an indication of more recent national trends for PCP use. Although these charts cannot be compared to the earlier charts as a different group of hospitals provided data, it is significant to note the peaks in PCP use reported in the periods January and February 1977, June 1977, November 1977, and February 1978.

In response to the NIDA PCP task force and in order to obtain preliminary data from NIDA's client-oriented data acquisition process system, a special study of a 10-percent random sample of all federally funded drug abuse treatment clinics reporting to CODAP was begun in June 1977. One hundred and twenty-one clinics located in 36 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico were studied over the 4-month period March to June 1978. Of the 3,323 client admissions to treatment during that period, PCP represented 2.2 percent of all primary drug problems, 1.1 percent of secondary drug problems, and 1.3 percent of tertiary drug problems.

Four-fifths of the PCP admissions in the sample were for whites. Seven out of ten admissions were male clients. White males accounted for 55.6 percent of PCP admissions, while white females accounted for 24.2 percent. Two-fifths of the clients using PCP had no use of the drug during the month prior to their admission. However, 13.2 percent reported use of PCP at least once per day; 46.3 percent took PCP orally, 37.3 percent smoked their PCP, and 10.7 percent inhaled it.

Two-thirds of the PCP users in the sample first began using PCP after 1974; 13.5 percent first used PCP in 1975, 14.6 percent in 1976, 18.7 percent in 1977, and 9.6 percent in 1978.

Effective January 1979, PCP will be added to all CODAP forms as a separate drug category, so that all treatment service units will be able to report PCP use.

I would now like to summarize the effects of PCP. To better clarify the range of effects that can be presented-the effects depend on the dose, mode of use, frequency of use, individual characteristics of user, and circumstances of use. At low doses, users frequently describe a "feeling of floating euphoria," "being sort of out of things," and it progresses in a middle range dose to serious disorientation and disassociation, and on to coma, stupor and respiratory arrest at higher doses.

Most of the deaths that have been reported from PCP are not due to the fact that they overdosed, but are more related to the behavioral toxicity. The toxic reactions range anywhere from acute intoxication,

acute psychosis, or persistent prolonged psychosis resembling schizophrenia.

Among the effects of a moderate amount of PCP, depersonalization and distortion of body image is reported most frequently. The user feels a sense of distance and estrangement from his surroundings. Time and body movement are slowed down. Muscular coordination worsens and impulses are dulled; the user may stagger as if drunk. Speech is frequently impaired, auditory hallucinations may occur, more frequently at higher doses, and feelings of impending doom or death may appear and disappear. Touch and pain sensations are dulled. Bizarre behavior, such as nudity in public places and barking while crawling on the floor have been reported.

Some of the other effects reported by PCP users are: Feelings of strength, power, and invulnerability, which sometimes lead to violent acts. The effects of the drug are often described as stronger than marihuana, more comparable to LSD, but basically in a class by itself. Chronic users of PCP report persistent memory problems, and speech difficulties, including stuttering and poor speech. Some of these effects may last 6 months to a year following prolonged daily use. Mood disorders also occur: Depression, anxiety, and violent behavior. Following a 2- to 3-day run, users often need great amounts of sleep and may awaken feeling disoriented and depressed. In later stages of chronic use, paranoid and violent behavior with auditory hallucina. tions often appear. Chronic users have reported losing 10 to 35 pounds of body weight during regular use.

I would like to briefly summarize the efforts of NIDA to address the increasing problem of the use of PCP.

Mr. WOLFF. Could you be a little specific on that, because that is the area we are interested in, what steps we are taking.

Dr. CZECHOWICZ. I will. Early in December 1977, NIDA recognized the need to disseminate to the public, treatment programs health professionals, emergency rooms, medical examiners, educators, et ceteraas quickly as possible, information relating to this drug. More than 18,000 letters were sent to alert treatment programs, emergency rooms and other service agencies to the PCP problem and its recognition and treatment, as well as the procedure for the detection of PCP. This information was disseminated to SSA's, regional offices, all treatment programs, all hospitals, emergency rooms, medical examiners, pharmacologists, educators, CMHS's, a variety of service organizations.

In addition, letters were distributed to all medical examiners urging them to be alert to PCP-related deaths, particularly deaths by accident, fire, and drowning. There was a sense that these deaths were not really being looked for and as a result were under-reported.

Mr. WOLFF. Can you, in some fashion, test for PCP in the blood? Dr. CZECHOWICZ. Yes; we included in this mailing the detection procedure for PCP in blood, tisssue, and urine.

NIDA also published, in response to public inquiries, a brief fact sheet in both Spanish and English, which included information for use by parents, youth, and educators about PCP and its acute and chronic effects, why people use it, and what to do if someone is using PCP.

In addition, NIDA has produced a report which provides an overview of the chemistry, pharmacology, and toxicology of the drug, as well as a discussion of the problems associated with its use.