DRUG SENTENCE A SIGN OF THE TIMES

A Puna man who pleaded guilty to drug charges avoided a jail sentence by
agreeing to wave a sign in public.

Duncan Castro's sign says, "Heart attack from 'ice' at age 18."

Castro, 19, didn't like the wording on the sign because his conviction is
for possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia. But he agreed to wave the
sign when Circuit Judge Riki May Amano told him that his only other option
was jail.

Under terms of a plea agreement, Amano sentenced Castro to five years
probation last month but prosecutors were free to argue for jail time as a
term of his probation.

Castro told the Tribune - Herald that he grew up with marijuana in the house
and started smoking it at age 11. "I never got punished for smoking weed,"
he said.

At 16 he started smoking crack cocaine. At 17 he quit cocaine but continued
smoking pot.

"And then I started smoking ice when I was 18," he said. Castro said he
smoked the crystal methamphetamine for two weeks and then one day smoked
marijuana afterward.

"That's not a good mix," he said. "Everything just went black and all I
could hear was my heart."

His doctor told him he'd suffered a mild heart attack. Castro said he hadn't
used drugs since. "I think if I did a little more I'd die already," he said.

When Castro turned himself in after learning that police had a warrant out
for his arrest on charges of promoting a detrimental drug and possessing
drug paraphernalia, he had to spend four hours in the Hilo police station
cell block. "And it felt like four days," Castro said. "I would cry if I had
to go to jail."

At Castro's sentencing hearing last month, his attorney, Chris Bertlemann,
told Judge Amano his client was willing to wave a sign or to speak to teens
about drugs.

Amano told Castro he was unlike most people who appear in her court for
sentencing on drug charges because of the heart attack and because he got
good grades in high school and has a job.

Castro must hold his sign during peak traffic for two hours in the morning
and then two hours in the afternoon. The sign - waving, which began Friday,
is scheduled to last through Thursday.