Pubdate: Tue, 3 Sep 2002 Source: Maui News, The (HI) Contact: 2002 The Maui News Website: http://www.mauinews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2259 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Note: For more on ice eradication in Hawaii go to http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Hawaii KIWANIS CLUB OF MAUI DONATES $10,000 TO FRIENDS OF THE MAUI DRUG COURT KAHULUI -- Members of the Kiwanis Club of Maui turned a summer service project into a $10,000 donation for a nonprofit group supporting the Maui Drug Court through the Weinberg Friends Program. Friends of the Maui Drug Court received the donation Aug. 22. The Weinberg Friends Program was set up by the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation to provide a donation to a charity selected by a service club in exchange for a community service project by club members. The Kiwanis Club of Maui selected the Friends of the Maui Drug Court for the donation. Their service project was held July 27, when more than 25 Maui Kiwanians combined to provide more than 100 hours fitting, inventorying and labeling hurricane panels at Hale Makua facilities in Kahului and Wailuku. Over the past two years, through the Weinberg Friends Program, the Kiwanis Club has been able to award $10,000 each to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Maui and Camp IMUA Rehab. In the exchange, Kiwanis members painted the kitchen and cafeteria at Camp Maluhia and painted the Hospice Maui building to earn the donations, said Linda Ludwick, president-elect of the Kiwanis Club of Maui. "The Weinberg Friends Program is really smart," said Lillian Koller, an attorney who is coordinator of the Maui Drug Court program. "It gets two benefits for the Maui community for the price of one." The $10,000 to the Friends of the Drug Court will be used for professional treatment, health care and other support services, Koller said. Nearly 180 people have been enrolled in the Drug Court, which offers court supervision and treatment as an alternative to incarceration for some nonviolent drug-related offenders. "This contribution will go a long way in helping to address the terrible drug problem in our community, because the Maui Drug Court program is really working," said Maui Police Chief Tom Phillips, who attended the Kiwanis award ceremony. Noting that Drug Court supervision includes drug testing, 2nd Circuit Chief Judge Shackley Raffetto said 99 percent of the nearly 20,000 drug tests administered by the Drug Court have been clean. Only two of 40 Drug Court graduates have been rearrested, for a 95 percent success rate, he said. Both Phillips and Raffetto said most crime and new felony charges on Maui can be linked to drugs, particularly crystal methamphetamine. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk