BE VIGILANT TO KEEP KIDS FROM DRUGS, ABUSE

Crystal methamphetamine is given much of the blame for the death of an
infant boy thrown from an H-1 freeway pedestrian overpass, but the
responsibility falls squarely on the meth user convicted last week of
murder. The danger of meth has been well known, and adult users should
know the consequences.

Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario found Matthew Higa, 25, guilty of
murdering 23-month-old Cyrus Belt on Jan. 17, 2008, while under the
influence of meth.

The boy's mother, Nancy Chanco, also had a history of drug use and
admittedly was occupied with illegal gambling and smoking meth with
the boy's father, Shelton Higa, on the day of the tot's death. She is
charged with robbing a man of $7,000 last November.

The perils of meth have been widely known for years, and the number of
Hawaii adults and adolescents admitted into meth treatment programs
has declined since 2005. While the statistics offer encouragement,
incidents like the Cyrus Belt case hammer home the tragedy when users
are unable, or unwilling, to resist meth.

Last year, the privately funded Hawaii Meth Project, patterned after a
highly praised Montana project, began airing fear-based television ads
about the dangers of meth. The effectiveness of the ad project has
been questioned by the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, which notes that
98 percent of teenagers strongly disapproved of meth before the first
ads were aired and 97 percent thought using meth was risky. While meth
use has dropped since then, the forum cites research concluding that
other factors accounted for children's knowledge of meth's danger.

Better lauded by the Drug Policy Forum are last year's results of a
five-year experiment called "Positive Action," showing that
fifth-graders in the program at 20 Hawaii elementary schools were
about half as likely to use drugs, alcohol, weapons or engage in sex
as their peers in other schools. The forum favors such
positive-behaviorial programs over "hype" advertising campaigns aimed
at tomorrow's parents.

Preventing child endangerment by today's parents is another issue. A
RAND Corp. study last year put the yearly cost of meth-related
medical, mental and quality of life losses suffered by children at
more than $500 million and the cost to the foster care system at more
than $40 million.

The Hawaii Department of Human Services was aware that Chanco had a
history of drug use preventing her from properly caring for Cyrus and
two older sons on repeated occasions. The toddler spent four days in
foster care in 2006.

Attempts at educating schoolchildren to the dangers of crystal meth
and other drugs appear to have been effective, whether in school or
over TV. But efforts to protect children from abuse and endangerment
by irresponsible and drugged parents are in dire need of improvement,
as the Belt case has sadly shown.

Crystal methamphetamine is given much of the blame for the death of an
infant boy thrown from an H-1 freeway pedestrian overpass, but the
responsibility falls squarely on the meth user convicted last week of
murder. The danger of meth has been well known, and adult users should
know the consequences.

Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario found Matthew Higa, 25, guilty of
murdering 23-month-old Cyrus Belt on Jan. 17, 2008, while under the
influence of meth.

The boy's mother, Nancy Chanco, also had a history of drug use and
admittedly was occupied with illegal gambling and smoking meth with
the boy's father, Shelton Higa, on the day of the tot's death. She is
charged with robbing a man of $7,000 last November.

The perils of meth have been widely known for years, and the number of
Hawaii adults and adolescents admitted into meth treatment programs
has declined since 2005. While the statistics offer encouragement,
incidents like the Cyrus Belt case hammer home the tragedy when users
are unable, or unwilling, to resist meth.

Last year, the privately funded Hawaii Meth Project, patterned after a
highly praised Montana project, began airing fear-based television ads
about the dangers of meth. The effectiveness of the ad project has
been questioned by the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, which notes that
98 percent of teenagers strongly disapproved of meth before the first
ads were aired and 97 percent thought using meth was risky. While meth
use has dropped since then, the forum cites research concluding that
other factors accounted for children's knowledge of meth's danger.

Better lauded by the Drug Policy Forum are last year's results of a
five-year experiment called "Positive Action," showing that
fifth-graders in the program at 20 Hawaii elementary schools were
about half as likely to use drugs, alcohol, weapons or engage in sex
as their peers in other schools. The forum favors such
positive-behaviorial programs over "hype" advertising campaigns aimed
at tomorrow's parents.

Preventing child endangerment by today's parents is another issue. A
RAND Corp. study last year put the yearly cost of meth-related
medical, mental and quality of life losses suffered by children at
more than $500 million and the cost to the foster care system at more
than $40 million.

The Hawaii Department of Human Services was aware that Chanco had a
history of drug use preventing her from properly caring for Cyrus and
two older sons on repeated occasions. The toddler spent four days in
foster care in 2006.

Attempts at educating schoolchildren to the dangers of crystal meth
and other drugs appear to have been effective, whether in school or
over TV. But efforts to protect children from abuse and endangerment
by irresponsible and drugged parents are in dire need of improvement,
as the Belt case has sadly shown.