CRYSTAL METH SUMMIT DRAWS 300 PEOPLE ON BIG ISLAND

WAIKOLOA, Hawaii (AP) -- About 300 federal, state and county officials and
other community members gathered on the Big Island on Tuesday to discuss
ways to deal with the problem of crystal methamphetamine, also known as
''ice.''

The message presented by various speakers was that the Big Island leads the
state in ice trafficking and use.

Acting Police Chief Lawrence Mahuna said there has been a ten-fold increase
in crystal methamphetamine arrests on the Big Island from 1998 to 2000 --
from 28 to 282. The drug's reach extends to middle schools, he said.

Collateral crimes of burglary, robbery and theft also are increasing, Mahuna
said.

Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim, who last year declared war on the drug, said
Hawaii's way of life is threatened.

''We must make the problem known to the people of this island,'' he said.

Billy Kanoi, who was hired by Kim to lead the attack on the drug, said he
wanted to save a generation of children from ''the worst drug plague'' to
hit the islands.

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye said the Big Island may be the ''gateway to ice'' in
the United States. He said he has been told there is one town on the Big
Island, which he declined to name, where 50 percent of the teen-agers are
addicted to ice.

Inouye said he will seek federal funds to help fight the drug.

Dr. Wesley Clark, director of the National Center for Substance Abuse
Treatment, said treatment is an important part of the solution. ''We can't
arrest our way out of the problem,'' he said.

Asa Hutchinson, head of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, said
ice is ''the No.1 drug problem in rural America.''

The summit is to be followed by 18 months of work preparing a list of
priorities based on Tuesday's sessions and developing a plan of action.

The possible solution will be forwarded to Washington and then returned to
the Big Island.