HOOSER: STATE FUNDING FOR "ICE" BATTLE POSSIBLE

The Senate Ways and Means committee Friday passed a bill that would provide
Kaua'i with money to combat crystal methamphetamine use.

The bill would provide funding for enforcement, but may also include funding
for treatment and prevention. The amount of funds for the project remains
"unspecified."

Prior versions of the bill had the money coming from asset forfeitures,
tobacco stamp taxes and the federal tobacco settlement fund.

"In general, I think spending forfeiture money to fund drug treatment
programs is a very good idea," said state Sen. Gary Hooser (D-East
Kaua'i-Ni'ihau) in a call from his Honolulu office Friday afternoon.

He said he wasn't sure how the bill's amendments changed the funding
structure, as updates weren't yet available.

"I'm encouraging them (the Ways and Means Committee) to include funding for
not only enforcement, but for prevention and treatment," Hooser said.

"We're in difficult times right now, and ice is killing people and perhaps
we need to make some exceptions and take some action we wouldn't normally
take," Hooser said of taking money from the tobacco settlement fund.

The package bill was introduced in January by House Democrats, including
Kaua'i's state Representatives Ezra Kanoho, Bertha Kawakami and Mina Morita.

When the bill came to the Senate March 5, it was originally to set up a
"drug strike force program" directed by the State Department of Public
Safety on Big Island. It would have been made up of retired and active law
enforcement officers.

The bill met opposition to creating a new department, so the committee
decided to fund the counties directly instead of setting up a new
department, Hooser said Friday afternoon.

Certain sections of the bill were opposed by the Attorney General's office,
Honolulu Police Department of Public Safety, Hawai'i County Police Chief,
Department of Public Safety and Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawai'i.

The question is "where will the money come from," and that the Kaua'i Police
Department already receives asset seizure funds, said KPD Chief George
Freitas.

"If there were some extra funds, it would be nice to have a state-funded
crime lab that would do analytical work, including drug analysis," Freitas
said. He added that most states already have such centrally-located labs.

The Honolulu Police Department has the only such lab in the state, he said.

"We ask them to help us when they have time available but otherwise we have
to find private labs on the mainland," Freitas said.

Freitas added another way Kaua'i would benefit is by conducting training
about hazardous chemicals in clandestine drug labs with the Department of
Public Safety Drug Enforcement Unit.

"What we don't want to see is the money that should be used for tobacco
prevention and control be diverted to ice programs," said Clifford Chang,
director for Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawai'i.

Chang's concern is that if the bill earmarks a certain percent of tobacco
stamp tax money to combat ice, "it's only fair to earmark some of the funds
for tobacco cessation," to allow those who pay the taxes to benefit from it
in some way, he said.

Each county has partnerships between police departments, the federal
High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) representatives and Attorney
General's office. Kaua'i has one HIDTA officer. They have had some federal
authority to investigate and enforce drug crimes.

"This is probably the fastest way to tap into this problem," said Rep. Mina
Morita, D-East and North Kaua'i, at a meeting about a week ago.