LAWMAKERS URGED TO BATTLE 'ICE' PROBLEM

Long-Term Treatment And Prevention Are Needed, Advocates Say

Brain-damaged crystal methamphetamine (ice) users should be in prison where
they can't hurt anyone, says City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle.

"When their brain is already damaged, isolate them, incapacitate them, then
treat them," he told four legislative committees yesterday. "It is not
acceptable social policy to have them running around."

Carlisle urged lawmakers to allow drug testing of students to identify those
who use ice and give them early treatment before they get into trouble.

The Honolulu prosecutor and others involved with treating ice addicts
described the depth of the ice problem in Hawaii to state House and Senate
Health and Judiciary committee members, and encouraged them to support
efforts to prevent ice use and provide more treatment to addicts.

Carlisle cited the cases of Frank Janto and Wayman Kaua. Both men had been
in prison and were supposedly treated for substance abuse. Yet, he pointed
out, Janto beat 59-year-old Bongak "Jackie" Koja to death in Wahiawa in
1997, while Kaua held two women hostage, fired shots at a private school and
pointed a rifle at his wife during a standoff with police in Pacific
Palisades in 1998. Both had been on drugs.

"People wonder why police are involved in so many shootings -- Welcome to
the 'ice' age in Hawaii," he said.

Dr. Barry Carlton, chief of psychiatry at Queen's Medical Center and
University of Hawaii psychiatry professor, said a child who tests for
methamphetamine "almost certainly is heading for trouble."

Intervention is needed because methamphetamine is too addictive, he said.

People who use ice "are playing roulette with their brain," he said,
pointing out kidneys and other organs and muscle also are damaged.

"Young people are walking around with old peoples' hearts," he said.

Carlton said some addicts will recover with treatment if they don't use the
drug for six months to a year, while others may have long-term damage.

Elaine Wilson, chief of the state Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division, said
prevention should involve improving "protective factors," which would reduce
"risk factors" linked with substance abuse.

East and West Hawaii have the highest percentage of children at risk because
of readily available drugs, or parental, community or school problems, she
said. Kauai and Pearl Harbor have a lot of protective factors and are lower
in substance abuse, she said.

M.P. (Andy) Anderson, chief executive officer of Hina Mauka, and Larry
Williams, director of the Salvation Army Addiction Treatment Services,
emphasized the need for more treatment resources.

They said addiction can be successfully treated, but it's a long-term
process marked by relapses, and they can only provide short-term treatment.

The prisons offer an opportunity for long-term treatment, but it must be
followed with continuing care, housing and employment in the community, they
said.

Williams said that most drug abusers who need help aren't criminals and
shouldn't have to be arrested or go to prison to receive treatment.

Anderson said school-based programs "are vital to the community because that
is our future." His agency operates 12 school-based programs for about 600
adolescents.

Barbara Mathews, vice president for patient care at The Queen's Medical
Center, said the hospital lost nearly $5 million per year in the past two
years in behavioral health services for patients with drug problems.

In 2001, the hospital admitted a total of 6,554 people for substance abuse,
including 2,089 for amphetamines, a 77.8 percent increase in five years.
Admissions for cocaine fell 33.5 percent, to 360 in 2001 from 541 in 1997.

Diane Chadwick, representing the North Hawaii Drug Free Coalition, and
Jeannette K. Martin Oliver, with Five Mountains Hawaii, described how
residents there formed coalitions and task forces to respond to the ice
plague.

They succeeded in getting legislative funding for a therapeutic facility and
are talking about "clean and sober houses" for support after recovery,
Chadwick said.

Among top recommendations at a "meth summit" were expansion of police
efforts, more youth activities, increased family education and training for
rehab personnel.

"North Hawaii has the spirit and will to become a model for the rest of the
nation," Oliver said.

Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona, among those in the audience at the Capitol
auditorium, said: "I'm really anxious to just get going on this."