DRUG COURT PROPOSAL SHOULD BE EXPANDED

The issue: governor cayetano has proposed that first-time nonviolent drug
offenders be required to undergo drug treatment.

Our view: the criminal history of the suspect in a waikiki murder suggests
that those who commit drug-related crimes and violate drug-abuse
requirements of parole should be included in such a policy.

- - THE lengthy criminal record of the suspect in the death of a Canadian
tourist in Waikiki has prompted suggestions for more severe sentencing. A
closer examination of Steven Hauge's background would lead more logically
to support and even expansion of Governor Cayetano's proposal for drug
treatment rather than prison terms for some offenders.

Since 1977, Hauge has been convicted of 45 crimes, mostly misdemeanors and
petty misdemeanors. His record includes nine felonies, all nonviolent
forgery offenses in 1978 except for an assault in 1990 and terrorist
threatening in 1994. He was released from prison in October 1999 after
serving five years for the terroristic-threatening conviction. He is being
held in connection with the robbery and bludgeoning death of Canadian
visitor Norman Chaplan, 81, at a Waikiki hotel.

An integral part of Hauge's criminal background seems to have been
substance abuse. Parole officers say he consumed alcohol and possessed
cocaine in violation of parole requirements, resulting in his being forced
to serve his full term for the 1994 conviction. Previous parole violations
also involved cocaine use.

Hauge's case is not unusual. Max Otani, the Paroling Authority's
administrator, says at least half of parole violations involve illicit drug
use.

Experts agree that drug-abuse treatment is the key to stopping the cycle of
imprisonment, release and re-arrest. Drug courts were introduced at the
state and local levels in the late 1980s and now number about 600 around
the country.

The Oahu drug court takes only defendants who meet specific qualifications
and who volunteer to participate. However, Barry McCaffrey, the nation's
so-called drug czar during the Clinton administration, says mandatory
participation is necessary for drug courts to be effective. "It doesn't
work without the coercive threat of the drug court," he says.

Cayetano has proposed mandatory drug treatment for first-time nonviolent
drug offenders. Unfortunately, that may fail to include criminals who are
convicted of non-drug offenses motivated by substance abuse.

"People are not arrested and prosecuted and jailed for first-time
possession of a controlled drug for personal addiction," McCaffrey says.
"That almost doesn't happen. People end up behind bars because they break
into your house or your car, they steal money from your business or they're
addicted themselves and they're selling drugs to other people to pay for
their drug habit. That's why they get arrested and prosecuted."

Cayetano's proposal for mandatory drug treatment would be improved if it
were to include drug-abusing parole violators and perpetrators of such
drug-related offenses rather than drug-law offenders.