Pubdate: Fri, 16 Aug 2002 Source: West Hawaii Today (HI) Contact: 2002 West Hawaii Today Website: http://westhawaiitoday.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/644 Author: Andrew Perala Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Note: For more on ice eradication in Hawaii go to http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Hawaii NO SOLUTION YET TO ICE PROBLEM A year after Mayor Harry Kim declared an epidemic of methamphetamine addiction on the Big Island, the county is no closer to identifying specific actions needed to counter the scourge of ice. No concrete steps have been taken as the data from police and social service agencies show increasing numbers of arrests for property and assault crimes, cases of spousal and family abuse, and increasing numbers of school children admitting to using ice. But the perception of inaction on the part of county government is just that, said Billy Kenoi, the mayor's executive assistant in charge of marshalling resources to fight drug abuse on the Big Island. "Yes, things are bad. Yes, we've got to scramble," Kenoi said. Born in Kalapana, educated on Oahu and once an aide to U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, Kenoi has placed all the county's hopes for solutions in a single gathering scheduled Aug. 27 on the Kohala coast. Under the auspices of Kim, Kenoi lobbied Inouye to convene the Aug. 27 "Ice Summit" on the Big Island. More than 300 invited political, economic, social service, judicial, law enforcement and medical experts at the county, state and federal levels have been asked to attend the meeting "to come up with a strategy, a plan," Kenoi said. "If the decision is made to build a youth treatment center, that's what we'll do. If the decision is made to put drug counselors in every high school, that's what we'll do. If the decision is made to beef up the police force for more enforcement, that's what we'll do," he said. The task of organizing participants and ensuring availability of funds to finance programs resulting from the summit has taken almost a year to develop, said Kenoi. Hawaii as a state has the highest per capita abuse of the smokeable form of ice, and the Big Island has the highest per capita abuse of all the state's counties, said organizers of another ice conference that concluded Thursday. "No single program, no single plan can work to stop this," said Don Bebee, director of the Family Support Services of West Hawaii. "We must all work together - law enforcement, social service agencies, the legislature, the courts, the schools, the communities." This week's conference at the Outrigger Waikoloa initially was planned to accommodate 125 social service personnel, health workers and others involved in frontline efforts to deal with ice - fueled family and social - health problems. More than 300 signed up for the two - day conference, almost overwhelming the organizers. "The reason everyone is showing up for these kinds of meetings is because everyone is affected by ice," said Kenoi, who helped organize the meeting. The ice conference is a good first step toward the ice summit, Bebee and Kenoi said. "The political will, the political resources needed to attack this problem will be addressed at the (ice) summit," said Bebee. "We won't be able to solve it without that." Kenoi said the mayor's office did not want to convene a massive, multi - agency meeting without having resources in place to fund programs suggested at the summit. "We didn't want to hold a summit without having the resources available," he said. Kenoi said Inouye's support for the war on ice is critical if there is to be any sort of victory. "The senator has $4 million in legislation and another $1.25 million in process to fund initiatives to come out of the Ice Summit," said Kenoi. "We didn't want to convene a meeting make a bunch of statements but take no action and then have to sit back three months later and say, 'What happened?'" Kenoi outlined the three prongs of attack the mayor's office will present at the summit. "There's never been a collaborative effort," he said. "It's not going to be just enforcement, just treatment, just prevention and reduction. It's going to be all three issues: public safety, public health, public education." The tentacles of ice addiction reach every level of Big Island society, Bebee said. A profound moment for this week's overflow audience at the ice conference was the impromptu and public admission by reserve Kona police officer Roland Kim of the challenges and personal costs of his son's six - year addiction to ice. "I wish I knew six years ago what I've learned today," said Kim. His 32 - year - old son, is now in an intensive detox and behavioral treatment program on Oahu. "Maybe I could have helped save my son back then," Kim said. "Six years ago, there wasn't the help that's available today," Bebee said. "A year ago, there wasn't the multi - agency help we're seeing develop here." - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk