HARD DRUG USE UP

Police: Ice Still The Most Serious Drug Problem

Although arrests for hard drugs have risen since 1997, marijuana use
has remained relatively constant, according to police statistics.

Vice officers from the Hawaii County Police Department met with
reporters Tuesday to brief them about the different illegal drugs
being consumed on the Big Island.

Lt. Henry Tavares said heroin and crystal methamphetamine arrests
have risen over the last three years, while cocaine and marijuana
arrests have stayed about the same. Police believe that many people
who previously smoked crack cocaine have switched to crystal
methamphetamine - or "ice" - because of its quicker and more intense
"high."

Police consider ice the most serious drug problem facing the Big
Island and say it is an element in property crimes and crimes of
violence. According to police statistics, ice arrests have risen from
55 in 1997 to 292 in 2000. "Crystal methamphetamine has made an
impact on this community," said Assistant Chief Wendell Paiva.

Despite the rise in ice use, police question a claim by marijuana
eradication opponents that destruction of marijuana patches forces
people to turn to harder drugs. According to Tavares, 60 percent of
people arrested for hard drugs also have marijuana in their
possession. Chief James Correa pointed to Guam as an example. Guam
has no marijuana eradication programs, he said, but it still has a
large ice problem.

Heroin is another drug that is becoming more popular on the Big
Island, police said. In 1997 police arrested six people for heroin.
That figure jumped to 33 in 1998, 47 in 1999 and 64 in 2000.

Detective Ernest Saldua, a vice officer in Kona, said many heroin
users start by smoking the drug rather than injecting it. "They feel
that if they smoke they won't become junkies," he said. They realize
that they have indeed become addicted, Saldua said, when they begin
to experience flu - like symptoms every time the drug wears off.

Saldua said a pound black tar heroin sells for $500 in Mexico and can
be resold here in smaller quantities for about $32,000.

Couriers smuggle it to Hawaii by air from Mexico or California. When
the drug arrives on the Big Island, it is sold out of cars, called
"storefronts." The car usually contains two Mexican nationals, known
as "runners," who get paid only $500 a week.

Customers call a cell phone to place their orders, and the runners
tell them where to meet the car to pick up the drug. The runners sell
20 to 30 $50 packets of heroin per day and then give the proceeds to
their boss, police said.

Capt. James Day, who started working in the department in 1973, said
the Big Island's drug problem is much worse now than it was then.
"Drugs are so much more powerful, potent and addictive," he said.