TOUGH SENTENCES KEY IN 'ICE' FIGHT

HONOLULU -- The Legislature and the Lingle administration have to be willing
to send more people to jail and spend more money if they are going to curb
the crystal methamphetamine industry that has ''ice'' addicts breaking into
homes and stealing cars just to stay high, a key lawmaker said Monday.

''It looks like everyone agrees that there's going to have to be
incarceration as a major component of it. So is treatment and so is
prevention,'' said Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, D-Nanakuli-Makua, co-chair of a
Joint House-Senate Committee on Crystal Methamphetamine (Ice). ''But it's
going to come down to money.''

If the joint effort includes mandatory prison terms, ''there's no question
in my mind that we're going to have to find the funding to do it,'' she
said.

The joint committee on Monday heard about the nightmare addictions to the
alluring stimulant drug that can turn rational, healthy people into
paranoid, hallucinating homicidal monsters.

Gary Shimabukuro, an educator and consultant on drug abuse issues, told
lawmakers of a number of high-profile murders, domestic violence and child
abuse cases that involved the use of ice.

He said the solution to the problem is a combination of prisons, drug
treatment programs and prevention through education.

''All those things cost money, and where are we going to get the money, I
don't know,'' he said.

Keith Kamita, administrator of the Narcotics Enforcement Division of the
state Department of Public Safety, said there is a growing number of
laboratories in Hawaii manufacturing ice, creating hazardous wastes and
endangering neighbors.

He suggested that Hawaii's drug laws be made to conform with tougher federal
laws to make it easier to pursue criminal charges.

Shimabukuro said one of the biggest frustrations for local law enforcement
is the delay in getting drug dealers to trial, leaving them out on bail and
on the streets to continue dealing, sometimes for years.

Hanabusa, who is chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, expressed
concern that the current offensive on the ice problem lacks a uniform and
coordinated approach. That issue could be resolved through creation of a
state drug czar, she said.

''This issue here is how to be effective in terms of addressing this
specific problem, and we cannot be reactionary,'' Hanabusa said.

Kamita said that would be a better approach, but would add to the cost.

After the hearing, Hanabusa said there's little doubt that ice use is
related to Hawaii's soaring incidence of property crime.

"I think the people are just getting fed up with it, and it doesn't look
like whatever we have in place now is working," she said.

''In light of that, we cannot as legislators just simply throw up our hands
and say, 'We can't do it.' '' she said.

The problem will require severe sanctions for those caught dealing ice,
Hanabusa said.

''We would like to believe that prevention and treatment will do the trick,
and I think it maybe will take care of part of the program,'' she said.
''But you are going to have to address that group of people now who are
causing the problem, and I think for them it's going to have to be sheer
deterrence.''