TASK FORCE SAYS SPENDING MONEY TO BANKROLL THE FIGHT WILL PAY OFF IN
THE FUTURE

A task force of state lawmakers wants the Legislature to spend nearly
$21.6 million to fight the "ice" crisis in Hawaii.

According to a report released Monday, spending the money now will
save far more dollars in the future. The focus is on prevention and
treatment for what the task force describes as an epidemic of
methamphetamine use.

The report said 3,162 adults in Hawaii need publicly funded drug
treatment but aren't getting it. The cost to treat them all would be
$10.7 million compared with $47 million for putting half of them in
prison for a year, the report says. And, it adds, if 1,500 of those in
treatment were women with children, the state could save another $22
million that otherwise would go to paying for foster care.

"Everyone agrees that prevention moneys are better spent than
incarceration," said task force co - chair Rep. Eric Hamakawa (D -
South Hilo - Puna).

Hamakawa was one of 18 legislators whom House and Senate leaders
appointed to the task force at the close of last year's session. He
and co - chair Sen. Colleen Hanabusa (D - Waianae - Nanakuli - Makaha)
talked to the Tribune - Herald about the report last week.

Hamakawa acknowledged that some of the recommendations are
controversial, including a provision to remove the cap on the number
of drug treatments insurance companies cover. HMSA now limits each
patient to 70 treatments "per episode" with a lifetime limit of two
episodes, Hamakawa said.

Hanabusa said a person who exhausts those limits is likely to become
unemployed, collect social benefits and go to jail. "It's probably a
lot cheaper for society to lift the cap on insurance and treat the
person," she said.

The task force found that, although marijuana is the drug of choice in
Hawaii's workplace, ice use on the job is rising fast and is
significantly higher than in other U.S. states. According to Hamakawa,
2 - 3 percent of workers who provided urine samples in 2002 tested
positive for ice compared with only 0.34 percent nationally.

To treat those people, the task force wants to require businesses to
provide three months of health insurance for workers fired for drug
addiction. The requirement would apply to companies with at least 25
employees but wouldn't apply to employees who distributed drugs at
work or were arrested for drug dealing.

Proposed new rules also would require any business with more than 15
employees to offer three hours of mandatory drug awareness education.
In exchange, the companies would get a $250 tax credit. The team
recommends another tax break for businesses that hire recovering
substance abusers who are off drugs.

Hamakawa and Hanabusa said the committee first approached its task as
a law enforcement problem but changed focus after hearing 80 hours of
oral testimony and reading a stack of written submissions 40 inches
high. "We found that this is really a health issue, and we have to
treat it as a health issue," Hamakawa said.

Police told the committee 90 percent of property crimes were committed
to support drug habits and most violent crimes were linked to ice,
Hamakawa and Hanabusa said.

"So if you treat 'em up front they won't be doing those crimes,"
Hanabusa said.

She said U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo and Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle
originally wanted to solve the problem by changing criminal laws.
"Toward the end, even they changed," she said.

Hamakawa said Hawaii County, which until recently led the state in ice
use, has been surpassed by Kauai. He credits Big Island Mayor Harry
Kim, who declared a "war" on ice shortly after taking office three
years ago, with attacking the problem early.

Kim said Monday he appreciates the task force's focus. "It's good to
see that a vast majority of the resources address those things of
youth, treatment, education and rehabilitation instead of just
enforcement and incarceration," he said. "That's what it takes to make
a dent in it."

Hanabusa said the legislative task force found that youth education
has been effective. "Kids are getting the message ... that crystal
meth is very dangerous."

The task force lists early intervention and treatment of adolescents
as its highest funding priority and is seeking $4.5 million for it.
The second priority is for youth prevention programs with a
recommended price tag of $3.6 million. Adult treatment will cost $10.7
million, according to the report.

Other proposals include expanding Drug Court, sentencing first - time
drug offenders to treatment and making harsher penalties for drug
dealers and people who expose children to ice laboratories.

The committee also wants to commission a study on the effects ice labs
have on the environment. And it recommends that people be allowed to
seek civil commitments for family members with drug problems and that
schools refer students to treatment before disciplining them for drugs.

Capt. Sam Thomas, who runs the Hawaii County Police Department's East
Hawaii criminal investigations section, had mixed reaction to the
recommendations.

He said he's glad the task force wants to spend a lot of money on
treatment but he wishes more would go toward enforcement. Thomas said
often the way ice users get treatment is by first going through the
judicial system. "And that predominantly is the responsibility of the
county police departments," he said.

According to the study, the ice epidemic in Hawaii began in 1997,
declined for two years, and then began to increase dramatically in
2000. By 2002 ice was the No. 1 drug for which people sought treatment.

Ice use in men arrested in Hawaii is the highest in the nation, the
report said. More than one - third of men arrested and tested for
drugs (37.4 percent) had ice in their systems.

Likewise, more than half of Hawaii's federal drug cases (51 percent)
involved ice. That compares with only 14.2 percent nationwide, the
report said.

According to the report, ignoring the ice problem will overburden the
state, break up families and ruin lives.

Hanabusa said the task force will present its proposals to the
Legislature as a top priority. "Our kuleana is the enactment of law,"
she said. "We're hoping that everybody will buy in."