THE NARCOTIC WORM IN KAUA'I'S GREEN APPLE

Despite Kaua'i's physical beauty, the island is populated by people, and
people here have problems like people everywhere else.

And when they have troubles, some people try and take the edge off with
narcotics.

The biggest problem substance on Kaua'i is ice (crystal methamphetamine)
according to cops and prosecutors.

"Ice is all over the place," Chief Deputy Prosecutor Craig De Costa said
Wednesday.

"Ice is easy to make, highly addictive and (provides) an intense high.
There are people on ice who believe the drug gives them an energy boost.
They think they can handle it, but that's not true," De Costa added.

Ice is so prevalent on Kaua'i that even kids are more and more into it
according to De Costa.

"We've seen 16 and 17-year-old girls arrested for ice (on Kaua'i)," De
Costa said.

De Costa said ice is often used to lure young girls into addiction and a
form of prostitution - trading their bodies to dealers for the drug.

There are various theories offered as to why ice has become such a serious
problem in Hawai'i.

Ice use in Hawai'i is 20 percent above the national average.

More than 10,000 adults were treated for ice addiction last year in Hawai'i.

According to Dr. Gerald McKenna, director of Kaua'i's Ke Ala Pono Recovery
Center, ice has become the drug of choice for teenagers who abuse drugs on
Kaua'i.

One of the drug's other big selling points, according to McKenna, is that
it is harder for parents to recognize their children are on ice than say
cocaine or heroin.

At least until their addiction becomes full blown.

Vice cops on the Big Island have reported children under 10 on ice.

Big Island vice officers have also reported that crack houses there are
converting to ice houses.

De Costa said one of the most commonly proposed theories for ice's place at
the head of the dope line in Hawai'i, is that ice, which is a narcotic
scourge all over Asia, was first brought to Hawai'i in bulk in the
mid-1980s, by teenagers moving here from Asia.

But De Costa said he didn't totally buy that theory since many local people
and Hispanics are now being arrested for using, selling and even making ice
on Kaua'i.

The North Shore has an additional drug problem, according to local
authorities: Heroin.

"Heroin is more predominant on the North Shore. The heroin cases I've seen
recently with the exception of one residue (needle shooter) case is black
tar (smokable heroin). We have made cases where Mexicans and locals are
involved," De Costa said.

Black and brown tar heroin is the dope of choice in many Northwestern urban
areas, especially Seattle and Portland.

But heroin is more expensive and harder to procure on Kaua'i than ice,
according to Honolulu Police officials.

A pound of black tar heroin, bought for $500 in Mexico, is selling
currently in Hawai'i for from between $30,000 and $35,000 according to vice
cops.

Kaua'i police statistics bear out De Costa's contention that ice is
everywhere on the Garden Island.

In 1999, for example, when all crimes were going down on Kaua'i, the
exception was narcotics cases and arrests.

Assigned cases in 1999 rose from 372 to 446 in the course of one calendar
year. Most of those cases involved ice.

De Costa's boss, Kaua'i County Prosecutor Mike Soong, has said repeatedly
that not only is methamphetamine sales (and use) the number one crime
problem on Kaua'i, he believes the cheap and powerful drug fuels most other
offenses, including domestic violence and burglary.

And the problem is not just on Kaua'i.

Even Guam, farther out in the Pacific, has an ice problem now. Authorities
there have moved away from marijuana eradication because their officers are
working the ice beat instead.

According to the United Nations World Drug Report 2000, cocaine and heroin
production has dropped significantly, with fewer and fewer countries
involved in the making and selling of those two drugs.

Opium production fell 17 percent between 1998 and 2000.

But according to the same report, methamphetamine is now the second
most-used drug in the world, second only to marijuana.

There are an estimated 29 million meth users worldwide.

Ice, the most popular form of the drug on Kaua'i (as in the rest of the
islands - it is shot in liquid form in the Northwest, for example) is a
large, usually clear crystal of higher purity than other forms of meth. The
flash high from smoking ice is allegedly not quite as intense as shooting
the drug into a vein, but the effects last on average three to four hours
longer than the two to four hours of racing shooting brings.