PUBLIC URGED TO UNITE IN FIGHTING WAR ON DRUGS

The message was both simple and daunting: Winning Hawai'i's war on drugs
depends on the strength and resolve of communities on every island.

Hundreds of people attending the second day of the Hawai'i Drug Control
Strategy Summit in Waikiki heard the plea again and again today. The
three-day summit hopes to tackle adult and juvenile drug use in Hawai'i.

The Rev. Bob Nakata of Kahalu'u Methodist Church described the community
building efforts in Windward O'ahu, including rubbish cleanups and working
with schools and churches.

But Nakata said it will be difficult to mobilize communities if there is no
funding for drug abuse treatment and prevention programs and if law
enforcement officials are not given more tools to combat drugs.

"Without those, the mobilizing effort will be extremely difficult no matter
the passion of all of us here to do something about this problem," Nakata said.

U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo today told the assembled leaders that everyone has a
stake in the outcome.

"It's less a matter of commitment as it is of heart," Kubo said. "And the
heart comes in when the community can stand forward and say: We are the
additional eyes and ears in this community and we're watching.

"When you turn on the lights the cockroaches will run and if they know we
are watching they will not stay for long."

Yesterday, Kubo told the summit members that Hawai'i must rally now or risk
losing the war on ice and other drugs.

"This is the time when our neighbors, our families, our communities are up,
and there's an outcry," Kubo said. "And if we don't seize on the momentum
now, we're going to lose our generations in the future."

For the first time here, hundreds of stakeholders and policy-makers --
doctors and politicians, police and pastors -- are under the same roof to
talk about how they can work together to fight drug abuse.

By the time the three-day conference ends tomorrow, they want to leave with
a specific plan of action to get users off drugs -- and to keep others from
starting.

"The message that should go out to the people of Hawai'i today with this
summit is that we ... are taking a stand and we will be successful against
drug and alcohol abuse in this state," Gov. Linda Lingle said.

Kubo said all three interest groups -- drug prevention, drug treatment and
law enforcement -- "must combine forces."

"By fighting among ourselves, I believe we lose sight of our goals," he said.

The summit, being held at the Sheraton Waikiki, is drawing about 400 people
from backgrounds spanning law enforcement and healthcare to the military and

the Girl Scouts. Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona is spearheading the summit.

The Hawai'i Drug Control Strategy has a goal of reducing adult and juvenile
illegal drug use by

10 percent over three years, plus a 10 percent reduction in adult offender
recidivism

The summit is among the initiatives that politicians have launched to
address the state's drug problem, particularly crystal methamphetamine.
House and Senate lawmakers also held a series of hearings with government
officials, nonprofit providers and others to discuss how best to deal with
the problem.

Emerging themes from Aiona's recent series of statewide talk-story sessions
included the need

for quicker response by law enforcement, random student drug testing, youth
prevention programs, treatment services, and more equitable distribution of
resources, particularly for the Neighbor Islands.

More than 700 survey responses from those who attended the meetings found
that most view more

organized youth activities as the top need in their communities to reduce
drug use and under-age drinking.

A survey of 224 summit participants ranked prevention and community
mobilization as the top

priorities to reduce illicit drug use in the community. That was followed
by treatment and law enforcement.

Scott Burns, deputy director for state and local affairs at the Office of
National Drug Control Policy, said the problem cannot be tackled without a
balanced approach that includes long-term treatment and law enforcement.

He said 30 days of treatment is not enough, as he knows of addicts who took
three to four months "to clear the fog."

Burns also said police need more tools, such as the ability to conduct
"knock and talks," in which officers search suspicious homes with the
resident's consent. Law enforcement officials said the state constitution
should be amended to allow for such programs, which the Hawai'i Supreme
Court ruled unconstitutional in 1992.