DECRIMINALIZATION IS ANSWER TO ICE PROBLEM

The public needs to just say "no" to the law enforcement approach to
controlling drugs. The chilling ideas of city prosecutor Peter Carlisle and
U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo bring to mind a North Korean-style police state. Each
decade we are subjected to a new drug scare; heroin in the 1970s, cocaine in
the '80s and now crystal methamphetamine. Each one brings a wave of public
hysteria fueled by lots of misinformation. Each time, the law enforcement
community suggests the answer is to give it more money and power. No real
progress in dealing with addiction is ever made, but more tax money is
spent, crime continues to rise and the people calling for these phony
solutions just say we need to do even more of the same.

We have more than 30,000 addicts in Hawaii. We now have about 5,000 people
in our jails at a cost of more than $40,000 per year each. Do the math. We
will never get a hold of this problem until we decriminalize addiction and
give control of these harmful substances to a responsible party such as the
Department of Health.

Tracy Ryan

Chairwoman

Libertarian Party of Hawaii