DRUG ABUSE SYMPTOM OF OTHER DYSFUNCTIONS

A three-day summit on how to combat drug abuse in Hawai'i has resulted in
several recommendations that include toughening laws to make it easier to
prosecute drug dealers, expanding treatment and coordinating efforts through a
centralized bureaucracy or drug czar.

Particularly compelling is the suggestion that people seeking substance-abuse
treatment receive the same insurance coverage as they would for other health
problems. Whether it's of one's own making or not, addiction is a disease that
requires counseling and, in some cases, medical intervention.

Rather than create new bureaucracies, we'd like to see the state make a major
financial commitment to prevention, which includes alleviating the conditions
that lead to drug abuse, such as unemployment and underfunded indigent
healthcare and public education.

Anecdotal evidence suggests the communities hardest hit by the hyper-addictive
and devastating crystal methamphetamine, or ice, are low-income rural
communities where, for many folks, getting high is an escape from reality.
That's not an excuse for smoking ice, but it's undoubtedly a contributing
factor.

We've already lost a couple of generations to substance abuse. Perhaps we can
salvage the next. Certainly, enforcement and prosecution are necessary to keep
the smugglers and dealers at bay. But as long as adults and children become
addicted to drugs, there'll be a demand for them. And that's what we have to
address.

For decades, kids have used drugs because they're looking for an escape, need
"Dutch courage" or feel peer pressure to get high. But they can easily be
distracted from taking drugs or outgrow them if they have healthy and
productive options.

Indeed, active kids are less likely to gain weight or take drugs.

Education is another big part of the solution. When schools are run down and
teachers not sufficiently valued, morale is low. Moreover, it doesn't help
matters when you cut arts and music programs and reduce the right-brain
creative outlets that children crave.

The bottom line is, if Hawai'i sharply increased the money it spends on
schools, it would most likely pay less in the long run for drug abuse and the
crime and violence that come with it. We're all for a war against drugs in
Hawai'i, as long as it doesn't ignore the socio-economic factors that lead to
drug abuse.