DRUG WAR BLUEPRINT MOVES TO LINGLE

A Three-Day Meeting Ends With Optimism, But Concerns Remain Over Necessary
Funds

The Lingle administration ended its three-day drug summit yesterday with 11
recommendations compiled by more than 400 participants in an unprecedented
collaborative effort to combat substance abuse in Hawaii.

The recommendations included increasing funding for treatment so drug abusers
can get adequate help; toughening search and seizure laws to catch more drug
dealers; establishing a Hawaii Substance Abuse Commission to oversee
coordination of public and private agencies; and raising funds for treatment by
forcing drug dealers to forfeit assets.

The Lingle administration is expected to study the recommendations and use them
as the basis for a package of bills and initiatives to present to the
Legislature in January.

As they left the ballrooms of the Sheraton Waikiki yesterday, many participants
praised the Hawaii Drug Control Strategy Summit for the way it brought together
people from the fields of prevention, treatment, law enforcement and the
community to focus on solving one problem.

Many also praised the process of breaking into work groups with professional
facilitators, who used colored markers and huge sheets of paper to help them
pull their ideas together into recommendations.

Some said there was a lasting benefit in meeting people face to face that
previously they had only known by reputation or work.

But with a tight state budget, many participants also questioned what would
happen to recommendations that required increased funding.

"So what's next? It goes to the governor and then what? Who owns this?" asked
Bob Nakata, a former legislator who participated in the conference as pastor of
the Kahaluu Methodist Church, which has been organizing the community to fight
crystal methamphetamine, or "ice," abuse.

Nakata said the administration has said there "will be little if any extra
funding. And many of the recommendations are for increasing funding for things
like treatment. So what can be done?"

Nakata said out loud what others said in private.

But participant Claire Wood, who runs a treatment program at the Salvation Army
and who had previously expressed skepticism about the summit, praised the
effort yesterday.

"I'm still cautiously optimistic," she said. "A lot of good people worked hard
here."

Greg Tjapes, corporate development officer for Hina Mauka Recovery Center,
added that "there was a huge focus on treatment here that I didn't expect to
hear. We have to have more treatment."

"This is the beginning, but there has to be some kind of follow-up. People will
be watching and asking what's next," Tjapes said.

In his closing statement, Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona, who organized and hosted
the summit, told the crowd "it was difficult to hear that many of you came to
the summit thinking it was a done deal."

He added, "But I feel you put that aside and have collaborated. I hope you
leave here knowing that your voices have been heard."

Meanwhile, the Legislature has convened a joint House and Senate task force
that is also studying methamphetamine and drug abuse with the aim of drawing up
its own legislative package.

Several legislators, including some on the task force, were guests at the
summit.

"We all recognize this is a monumental task. We need some system changes," said
Aiona.

PROPOSALS TARGET DRUG PROBLEM

Final recommendations made in seven areas identified by summit participants
include:

1. Centralizing body: Create a Hawaii Substance Abuse Commission comprised of
executive, legislative, judicial, public, private, community and consumer
representatives to serve as an advocate, create state drug policy and
coordinate funding.

2. Coordinate efforts: Appoint a temporary director to follow up on the summit
and to guide the legislative establishment of an executive branch-level office
on drug abuse.

3. Treatment philosophy: Treat substance abuse as a disease and a public health
issue. Aggressively pursue federal grant money to increase treatment
availability. Adequately fund treatment on the basis of individual needs rather
than a one-size-fits-all philosophy. Fund substance abuse treatment at the same
level as other diseases, and provide funding when people relapse as they do
with other diseases.

4. Treatment access: Expand treatment funding and capacity "for comprehensive
treatment on demand" so people can get treatment when they need it, for the
type and length of treatment they need. Ensure sufficient funding to cover both
treatment and recovery.

5. Legal changes: Make treatment mandatory for drug offenders, and give law
enforcement tougher wiretapping and search and seizure laws "so they can arrest
and prosecute drug dealers." Give judges the means for "appropriate sentencing"
of drug dealers and abusers.

6. Multisector collaboration: "Establish community-based, state-supported
collaboration that will strengthen and expand a continuum of services that is
culturally sensitive utilizing promising and best practices."

7. Community: "The communities of Hawaii, in the spirit of aloha, will be equal
voices and partners in designing, developing and deciding strategies, resources
and systems of allocation to attain and sustain all our agreed-upon goals."

GRANT FOCUSES ON MENTAL ILLNESS AND DRUGS

Hawaii will receive $3.6 million over the next five years to treat people who
have both a mental disorder and a drug or alcohol abuse problem.

The announcement was made on the third and last day of the state's Drug Control
Strategy Summit in a speech by Charles Curie, administrator of the federal
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, part of the Health
and Human Services Department.

Curie said that Hawaii, the first state in the nation to receive the newly
created grant, beat out 42 other states for the money. He said six other states
will receive similar grants targeted for people with dual or "co-occurring"
substance abuse and mental disorders.

Treatment experts say that methamphetamine addicts, in particular, suffer from
more than one disorder at a time.

The grant will provide more than $1 million in each of the first three years,
$540,872 in the fourth year and $100,000 in the last year.