ICE MONEY CONSIDERED FOR WEST HAWAII DRUG TREATMENT CENTER

HILO - A portion of nearly $5 million the county is expecting to combat
"ice" or methamphetamine use on the Big Island should go toward a West
Hawaii drug treatment center, the administration said.

Executive assistant to the mayor Billy Kenoi said Thursday part of the
federal funds should be used for an adolescent drug treatment center in West
Hawaii, but added enforcement is also needed in key areas to address the
problem.

Kenoi was assigned by the mayor 18 months ago to coordinate agencies in a
"war" on ice. Kenoi told about 100 participants at a Hilo workshop the
county is expected to receive $4 million as an part of a federal
appropriation sought by U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D - Hawaii.

The Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Association recently awarded the
island $900,000 - $300,000 annually over three years - for drug treatment.

In support of the treatment center, Kenoi said teens with drug problems are
sent to Oahu in - patient facilities. "That's terrific, we send our kids
away when they have a problem," he said.

Kenoi said a drug treatment center on this island can't be "medically or
clinically managed."

His vision is a "multi - pronged" treatment center involving various
agencies and non - profit organizations that would see patients learning
values through ranching, sailing and community service, he said.

He called for it to be a "model" program.

Kenoi also said some of the $4.9 million should go into a community anti -
drug fund to serve as a resource for island residents with good ideas of how
to combat ice but no money for action.

"We can't arrest our way out of the ice problem," Kenoi said, but added more
of a federal law enforcement is needed on the island.

"Guys run scared when the feds come in," Kenoi said, stressing, "We have got
to hammer the big drug dealers." He said island drug dealers are acting as
the wrong kind of role model for young people by flaunting "drugs, parties
and cash."

Kenoi said residents need to "change culture on the island," noting gyms
close at 5 p.m., just hours after kids finish school, leaving them with
nothing to do. A focus is needed on what we're doing to help kids, he said.

Kenoi also said this island needs to improve time it takes for the crime lab
to process drug samples. He noted on Oahu, drug suspects are held at least
until their preliminary hearings, within 48 hours of arrest.

Here drug suspects typically are released from jail within days after of
arrest and a preliminary hearing is nearly six months later - or whenever
the crime lab has tested the confiscated drugs, he said.