TEENS GET OVER-THE-COUNTER FIX AS 'ICE' USE FALLS

Binge-Drinking Trend A Surprise

Crystal methamphetamine use in Hawaii is continuing to decline after
reaching a peak in 2005, said Keith Yamamoto, chief of the state
Health Department's Alcohol and Drug Division.

Marijuana is still the preferred illicit drug in Hawaii for
adolescents, with alcohol running second, he said.

Jeffrie Wagner, executive director of the Bobby Benson Center for
adolescents, agreed that there has been a decline in the use of
crystal meth, but he noted, "When the law cracks down on one drug, the
drug users just switch to another."

He said his center has seen an increase in cocaine and prescription
drug use and the new trend among adolescents of abusing
over-the-counter throat lozenges containing antihistamines.

"It gives them a high. They usually steal them off shelves," he
said.

Yamamoto said he was not surprised by some of the findings in a report
released Thursday by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration on illicit drug use and alcohol around the
country.

For instance, of 14,000 12- to 17-year-olds surveyed, 14.3 percent
reported using marijuana in the past year. Of 35,000 18- to
25-year-olds surveyed, 28.4 percent reported using marijuana in the
past year.

But Yamamoto said he was a little surprised at the rate of binge
drinking reported for Hawaii among 12- to 17-year-olds, because that
has not surfaced as a top issue here.

Someone who has five or more alcoholic drinks at the same time, within
a couple of hours, or on at least one day within the past 30 days is
considered a binge drinker.

Hawaii was in a group of 10 states with the second-lowest percentage
- -- 20.7 percent to 21.8 percent -- of 12- to 17-year-olds reporting
binge alcohol use in the past month.

"I'm surprised it was even that high," Yamamoto said, adding that his
division will be looking into the issue.

Admissions in methamphetamine treatment programs for Hawaii adults and
adolescents in 2002 totaled 2,888, he said. The figure rose to 3,163
in 2003, went up again to 3,265 in 2004 and peaked in 2005 at 3,658,
which meshed with the national report, he said.

In 2006 the number of Hawaii residents getting treatment for "ice"
dropped to 3,469, and it slid to 3,323 last year, continuing the
downward trend, Yamamoto said.

He said he is pleased Hawaii was included in the national survey,
because national studies often exclude Hawaii and comparisons with
other states are helpful.

But he said the SAMHSA study has limitations.

Some of the sampling sizes for data were "quite small," he said. "So
we, as a state, always have to make sure we put resources and do our
own surveys with a little more robust data" that can be used at the
county level and in communities, he said.

More organizations are needed to provide substance abuse treatment,
particularly residential adolescent treatment, Yamamoto said. Maui
Youth and Family Services had a program but closed it, leaving the
Bobby Benson Center the only residential substance abuse treatment
center for adolescents in the state, he said.

Wagner said the center has a capacity of 28, with 12 beds for females
and 16 for males from ages 13 to 17.

He said a few clients have run away, usually to get the lozenges with
antihistamine. Although it might sound harmless, he said, "A couple
ended up in psychiatric wards or the emergency room with overdoses.
They go into convulsions.

"You can abuse anything," Wagner said. "We can't take everything and
lock it up. They're really smart, really resilient and looking for
ways to get loaded."

He recalled when sniffing "aerosol sprays from under the sink" was
popular with juveniles and in the 1960s and '70s, he said.

"There are just so many things so harmful to these kids, and they have
no idea. Some kid tells them, 'If you use this, it will get you high.'

"We do have successes," he said. "A lot of it is up to the youths
themselves, whether they want it or not. We give them all the
education and information, the good, bad and ugly. It's kind of up to
them."