KEEP FIGHTING DRUGS WITH ENLIGHTENED POLICIES

THE ISSUE

An advocacy group for drug policy reform has praised Hawaii for its
approach to dealing with drug abuse.

PARTICIPANTS in a three-day drug-abuse conference in Waikiki entered
today's closing session with sentiment that seems to reflect a growing
public rejection of "get tough" policies and acceptance of the need
for prevention and treatment. A report by a national group supporting
drug policy reform gives Hawaii high marks for its approach in recent
years. Actions needed to deal with what Governor Lingle calls the
"scourge" of crystal methamphetamine should refine that approach.

A survey by Ward Research of 224 participants in the Hawaii Drug
Control Strategy Summit confirmed that the state is headed in the
right direction. More than 60 percent said treatment for crystal-meth
addiction needs improvement, while 56 percent said prevention needs to
be improved. Only 31 percent said law enforcement needs to be better.

A new report by the Drug Policy Alliance on laws enacted from 1996
through 2001 found that states were adopting approaches that treat
drug addiction more like an illness than a crime. "Our key hope for
this report," said Ethan Nadelmann, the group's executive director,
"is that legislators around the country will increasingly appreciate
that it's possible to introduce and support and enact sensible drug
policy reforms without being accused of being soft on drugs or being
soft on crime."

The Drug Policy Alliance report praises the 1997 Legislature for
opting out of a federal welfare ban for former drug offenders by
allowing them to receive benefits if they obtain drug treatment. It
notes that Hawaii's Legislature in 2000 was the first to legalize
marijuana for medical uses, enacting a law similar to those approved
as voter initiatives in eight other states, and the first to enact
major "treatment instead of incarceration" legislation patterned after
polices approved by voters in Arizona and California.

Those Arizona (1996) and California (2000) initiatives mandated that
first- and second-time offenders of nonviolent drug possession laws
receive drug treatment instead of incarceration. The Arizona Supreme
Court has said the system provides for "safer communities and more
substance abusing probationers in recovery." In California, 30,469
people were diverted into treatment in the year leading up to July 1,
2002.

The report also lauds this year's Hawaii legislators for rejecting a
bill, supported by Lingle, that would have allowed schools to require
drug tests of students enrolled in athletics or "physically strenuous"
co-curricular activities. Pointing out that many voiced concerns that
the tests would keep more students away from extracurricular
activities than those kept away from drugs, the report concluded: "The
people of Hawaii still remain in the driver's seat of their
government's drug policy and the politicians are listening."