'ICE' ADDICTION TREATMENT CASES DOUBLE IN FOUR YEARS

HONOLULU -- The number of adults admitted to state-funded drug- treatment
agencies for crystal methamphetamine abuse has roughly doubled since 1998, a
state health official told a legislative panel Wednesday.

Elaine Wilson, chief of the Health Department's Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Division, cited statistics from providers that show there were 2,730 adults in
Hawaii admitted for crystal meth treatment in 2002, compared to 1,423 in 1998.

As the state continues to map out its plan for combatting the highly addictive
stimulant known as ''ice,'' more efforts must be focused on treatment and
prevention, Wilson and other providers told the Joint House-Senate Task Force
on Ice and Drug Abatement.

Through treatment, ''essentially what you're doing is returning people to the
community and to their families,'' Wilson said.

The number of adults admitted for treatment of ice abuse has grown steadily
since 1998, with 1,517 admitted in 1999, 2,136 in 2000, and 2,332 in 2001.

In 1998, there were 189 adolescents in the treatment program, according to the
Health Department. But after dropping to 126 in 1999, the number has grown
steadily to 143 in 2000, 150 in 2001 and 158 last year.

''The important thing is to get them in and retain them,'' Wilson said.

But treatment for ice isn't the same as for other substances, such as alcohol,
said Dr. Barry Carlton of The Queen's Medical Center.

He cited studies that show the brain can be damaged even after just one hit of
ice, whereas it might take years before someone might suffer similar damage
from alcohol abuse.

He urged lawmakers to look into preventive measures, such as screening
vulnerable populations, noting that after prolonged ice use there's ''often
little to recover when the patient becomes sober and the brain is busted.''

William Wood, a University of Hawaii sociologist who also serves on the drug
epidemiology work group of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which
forecasts drug trends regionally and nationally, presented figures that show
the number of Oahu deaths from methamphetamine has steadily grown to 62 in
2002, compared to just 11 in 1991.

''People who use methamphetamine seem to end up in the coroner's office,'' he
said.

Wood also worked on a 1998 University of Hawaii study that estimated there were
about 8,100 people in the state who were ice addicts or in need of treatment,
based on a 1998 household survey of more than 5,000 people.

While figures conflict on exactly how many people in Hawaii are using ice, Wood
repeated the notion that even one ice user is one too many.

''It doesn't matter,'' he said. ''If you look at the deaths, if you look at
those in treatment, if you look at the disruption in the community, there could
be no doubt that if it's 10 people doing it, then we've got a problem we've got
to deal with.''

The panel also heard from the Criminal Drug Court, the Department of Public
Safety, Salvation Army Family Treatment, Drug Addiction Services of Hawaii,
Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center and the Institute for Human Services.

The House-Senate task force was formed in June to investigate and come up with
ways to combat the growing ice epidemic in Hawaii.

Gov. Linda Lingle and Lt. Gov. James ''Duke'' Aiona also are conducting a
series of town hall-style meetings to hear from communities leading up to a
drug summit next month being convened to develop a strategy for dealing with
the state's drug problem.

On the Net: Hawaii State Legislature: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov