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DEBRIEFING THE ICE SUMMIT

The recently concluded Hawai'i Drug Control Strategy Summit, convened by Lt.  Gov.  Duke Aiona, generated big headlines and positive buzz on how to deal with what has been described as a crystal methamphetamine "epidemic" in the islands.  While praising the "ice summit," especially the consensus on the need for expanded treatment services, two attendees shared with the Weekly their thoughts on what was missing:

"Some major stakeholders in the drug debate were not invited, including the head of the state's needle-exchange program, the director of the social workers' professional organization, and the principal investigator of a federally funded research and treatment program for women using ice," said Pam Lichty, president of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai'i.  "A state senator complained publicly that all members of the Joint House Senate Task Force on Ice and Drug Abatement were not invited."

Kat Brady, head of the Community Alliance on Prisons, said, "The most surprising element was the lack of support for drug testing students.  This issue didn't even get a nod in the broad recommendations emerging from the summit.  There is lots of talk against it in the street from people of all political persuasions, and the word is that people don't like subjecting their kids to suspicionless drug testing."

Brady continued: "Another theme of the summit was that people don't want substance abuse to be caught up in the miasma of politics while their families are suffering.  The Lingle administration is doing one thing, the Legislature is doing another, and communities all around Hawai'i Nei are wondering if this political football will actually produce some useful resources to ameliorate their pain or just be another campaign promise with no solutions in sight."

One other summit highlight: A new group, HEART ( Honolulu for Expanded Access to Resources and Treatment ), a coalition of churches, community organizations, service providers and concerned citizens, handed out buttons and brochures to help educate the conferees on women and treatment, mandatory-minimum and three-strikes laws, student drug testing and youth drug education.