mr. milione and mr. smith, eckhardt and dr. nichols thank you so very much. i hope i pronounced that milione correctly. i was previously in a meeting and i will have to go to another meeting dealing with criminal justice but this is a very important hearing. let me thank the chairman as well mr. buck and the chairman of the subcommittee mr. sensenbrenner and the chairman of the full committee and mr. conyers the ranking member the full committee. i'm grateful for the work that we have done to organize this hearing in spring the use of abusive synthetic drugs to the attention of subcommittee previous several witnesses that will provide their own unique perspectives regarding the effect and dangers of synthetic drugs but my home state of texas has been affected by the proliferation of synthetic drugs it is causing great harm. it's a designer drug made from a combination of synthetic chemicals sprayed on plant material packaged by candy smoked like marijuana. it has no constraint of regulations and no guidelines. bush is typically many times more potent than natu

mr. milione and mr. smith, eckhardt and dr. nichols thank you so very much. i hope i pronounced that milione correctly. i was previously in a meeting and i will have to go to another meeting dealing with criminal justice but this is a very important hearing. let me thank the chairman as well mr. buck and the chairman of the subcommittee mr. sensenbrenner and the chairman of the full committee and mr. conyers the ranking member the full committee. i'm grateful for the work that we have done to organize this hearing in spring the use of abusive synthetic drugs to the attention of subcommittee previous several witnesses that will provide their own unique perspectives regarding the effect and dangers of synthetic drugs but my home state of texas has been affected by the proliferation of synthetic drugs it is causing great harm. it's a designer drug made from a combination of synthetic chemicals sprayed on plant material packaged by candy smoked like marijuana. it has no constraint of regulations and no guidelines. bush is typically many times more potent than natu

mr. milione for the dea's hell. my district has been overrun so you've been kind enough to assign dea officers and agents up in my area what with our locally so we really appreciate the help. in the individual state doesn't impact on the border but you do. so that's been an enormous help for us in trying to interdict some of the heroin pipeline that's been coming up into the boston area. i had the honor of cofounding the cushing house in boston for boys and girls, it's actually an adolescent treatment is only because our kids are coming in so young with addictions to the opioids and heroin. we've got basically 24 beds for boys, 20 for growth but the promise i've got a line out of the door. it's happening over and over and over again. i do want to say just as a sideline, as i talk to our young people, and we put thousands of kids through this home, and it's a long-term rehab facility. and while i don't know if mary wanted is a gateway drug to heroin, but every single kid that ideally with who is on opioids and on her

mr. lewis milione. special agent louis milione is a deputy minister to finance its drug enforcement administration office of version control where he serves as october 2015. mr. milione axes the prince of asa to the dea demands recount matters pertaining to the regulation of programs relating to the diversion of legally produce controlled substances and listed chemicals. mr. milione began his career with drug enforcement administration in 1987 and holds a bachelor of arts from villanova university and a law degree from rutgers university school of law. officer william smith junior is an officer with the washington d.c. metropolitan police department. he has over over 20 is a blunt force and experience much of which is focused on narcotics. mr. devin eckhardt is the father of connor eckhardt who died tragically after smoking synthetic marijuana great mr. sadberry is a founder of the counter project and as is a dressy night nations to raise awareness globally about the dangers of synthetic drug use. joins

mr. milione? mr. milione: thank you, congressman. deadlyic cannabinoids, sentinel analogs, and other toxic substances are flooding the united states, putting unsuspected users at risk of death and injury. this drug threat is second only to the opioid scourge death -- devastating our country. these are unpredictable, untested substances placed in colorfully marked packaging and marketed to you. -- orncy room or emergency room doctors report cardiac arrest, kidney failure, and extreme psychosis. synthetic cannabinoids are sold openly and gas stations, convenience stores, head shops, and over the internet from domestic and foreign sources. fin nil analogues are a fast-growing, troubling part of this threat. you have the dangerous convergence of synthetic drugs with this country's opioid epidemic. you have substances many times more potent than heroin that are sold as heroin. fentanyl analogues are so deadly that an unsuspecting amount -- that a small amount can kill an unsuspecting user. they can be shipped to your home. because of the

mr. milione. this is very uncomfortable, but i will tell you almost a year ago a little over a year ago in fact, in tampa a judge ruled against the actions of the dea when he rated a compounding pharmacy, destroyed the medication i completely shut down the pharmacy without real cause. this was west chase pharmacy and floor-- or to. are you familiar with that situation? >> i am not. >> you need to be because this is not a shining example you want to point towards. this is an example where one of your supervisors that you oversee conducted a raid and at the time had no experience in the investigation, had not read the dea handbook yet rated a compounding pharmacy with tactical gear and guns, shut down the business, seized hundreds of thousands of dollars of medicine and improperly stored them therefore rendering them useless all because the dea misinterpreted and failed to follow their own laws. this is as the judge said preposterous. this is not to be accepted. i support the dea. i don't like anyon

mr. milion, and dr. nichols testified to is the ever-changing chemical makeup of these synthetic drugs for prosecution. the d.e.a. and dr. nichols. just them tweaking one chemical atom of that synthetic drug changes the enforcement aspects on law enforcement's side, you have a drug that is scheduled, they change the atom, it's a new chemical, therefore it can't be prosecuted. >> mr. eckhart, is there anything you've not been able to tell us that we haven't asked you that you'd like to say? >> how much time do you have? one of the things that occurs to me as this conversation goes on, i'd say at what price tag. at what price tag are changes being made or become delayed? from a parents' perspective, from the general public's perspective, we would feel like and the many, many hundreds of thousands of people that we communicated with would feel like if something looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, let's call it a duck. we're down at the molecular atom structure and because they change o

mr. milione? >> thank you, congressman buck, distinguished members of the committee. synthetic ka ncannabinoids, dea analogs and other toxic synthetic substances are flooding the united states. d.e.a. sees this drug threat as second only to the opioid scourge. they're unpredictable, untested substances placed in colorful package aing and marketed to our youth as an illegal high. emergency room docktors report brain damage, kidney failure and extreme psychosis. synthetic cannabinoids are sent in gas stations, convenience stores, head shops and over the internet from domestic and foreign sources. fentanyl analogs are fast growing parts of the synthetic drug threat. here you have the dangerous convergence of synthetic drugs with this country's opioid epidemic. with fentanyl analogs you have substances many times more potent than heroin sold with heroin, mixed into pill form and sold as prescription drugs. a minuscule amount can kill an unsuspecting user. they can be ordered from asia over the internet delivered directly to your home. because of the massive profit potenti