In the last year, Big Island police have gained federal allies in the war on "ice," or crystal methamphetamine. But in daily battles against drug trafficking, police are outnumbered and overworked.

"This year, we've taken down four big ones (dealers)," said Marshall Kanehailua, acting lieutenant in charge of the Police Department's two vice squads. "But every time we hit one, another pops up."

Money motivates new dealers to fill the void, Kanehailua said. On a busy night, the average Big Island dealer can sell between $7,000 and $8,000 of ice to about 45 addicts. About half the nightly take is profit, he said.

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Federal Funds Will Help Local Researchers Study A Devastating Addiction

Hawaii, the "crystal meth capital of the country," is one of six sites selected for a national study of treatments for crystal methamphetamine (ice) addiction, says Dr. William Haning III, University of Hawaii psychiatry professor.

Psychiatrists participating in the study hope to develop a treatment program and research structure that could support a clinic for ice addicts as a spinoff, Haning said.

Haning and Dr. Barry Carlton, also a UH psychiatry professor and chief of psychiatry at Queen's Medical Center, are principal investigators of the Pacific Addiction Center, a program of the John A. Burns Medical School and Queen's.

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Kauai Community Correctional Center across Kuhio Highway from Wailua Golf Course remains locked down today after five inmates tested positive for methamphetamine, the warden said yesterday.

Correctional officers found paraphernalia in the form of a drug pipe yesterday. Kauai Police Department will conduct its own investigation as the KCCC in-house investigation continues, said Neal Wagatsuma, KCCC warden.

All work releases, passes and community-service releases for the inmates have been canceled for the entire month of December, he said.

Until he gets some answers, KCCC will remain in lockdown mode. "We really want to get the culprits," especially those responsible for bringing drugs to the facility, Wagatsuma continued.

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It begins with 30 days in jail. Signing an agreement with the judge admitting the facts behind a felony drug charge follows.

Completing the judge's good - behavior requirements over 12 to 18 months - that's the tough part.

At least, that's the expectation of the newly launched Big Island Drug Court.

Departing the traditional approach to crime and punishment, the court gives non - violent drug offenders a second chance to clear a felony from their criminal record. Saving the state money in court time and imprisonment costs are a bonus.

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The Issue - A Policy Group Urges Parents And Educators To Give Young People Information Instead Of Trying To Scare Them Straight.

BY the time they reach their teen years, children are able to distinguish half-truths and exaggerations and are well aware that drug use transfuses American culture. So using scare tactics and promoting misinformation undermines the credibility of drug education efforts. The approach advanced by the Drug Policy Alliance to give young people clear information about the risks makes more sense.

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Dr. Kunz is a specialist in Addiction Medicine, and a member of the West Hawaii Tobacco Free Coalition.

There are many reasons to ban tobacco in public places, but I believe that the following are the top 10. For the benefit of our children, let's state clearly: "drug free means tobacco free."

10. Freedom to smoke cannot be freedom to harm. The Freedom-to-Smoke tobacco lobby was conceived and financed by the tobacco industry. Except for tobacco growing states, this argument is now generally accepted as bogus, dishonest and self-serving. We all share the right to seek health, happiness and freedom.

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WASHINGTON (AP) The typical medicinal marijuana user is likely to resemble someone from the Baby Boom generation -- or older -- rather than a 20-something poster child, according to a congressional study.

Data collected in Hawaii and Oregon -- two of the eight states allowing marijuana use for medical treatment -- show the majority of users are males, 40 years old or older.

The study by the General Accounting Office, which covered Alaska and California as well, also said the relaxed drug laws in those four states have had minimal impact on crimefighting, although they at times complicate prosecution of drug cases.

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Participants Receive Counseling And Must Take Courses To Change Their Behavior

WAILUKU -- Maui Drug Court counselor Ronnie Santiago stood by a chalkboard inside a room at the Maui prison and asked a group of men seated in a classroom what happens when they're confronted with a situation that makes them angry.

"My body gets hot," one of the men said.

"What did you do?" Santiago asked.

"I stuffed it."

Santiago told the men that holding emotions within themselves is dangerous and could eventually lead to acting out frustrations on another person or surroundings.

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Dear Editor,

According to a Time/CNN poll, 80 percent of Americans support compassionate-use medical marijuana legislation and 72 percent believe adults who use Pakalolo recreationally should be fined, not jailed. The number of Americans who support taxing and regulating marijuana has doubled since 1986.

Unfortunately, a review of marijuana legislation would open up a Pandora's box most politicians would just as soon avoid. America's marijuana laws are based on culture and xenophobia, not science. The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican migration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. White Americans did not even begin to smoke marijuana until a soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began funding "reefer madness" propaganda.

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Politics, little money and a "not in my back yard" attitude stopped efforts to build a new correctional facility in Hawai'i despite years of debate and an inmate population that nearly doubled in the past eight years.

Gov. Ben Cayetano said arguments over cost, location and type of facility have managed to kill proposals during his tenure. "Nobody wanted it in their back yard. And we had a tough time with the unions because they oppose privatization."

With his term coming to an end in a week, the governor continues to try to reach a deal with a private developer to build next to the Halawa Correctional Facility.

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Editor's note: This is the third and final in a series focusing on property crime and its impact on the community.

Smoking so much "ice" he'd forget how many nights he'd been awake, cruising darkened neighborhoods to steal from carports, triggering arguments with his wife so he had an excuse to beat her - these are a few of the memories Thomas P. Gouveia III said he carries.

"Lie, cheat and steal. I did it all. All for ice," he said.

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LIHU'E - The island's drug problem is bigger than the mayor, according to the mayor-elect.

It is bigger than the police department, and bigger than the state judicial system, said County Councilmember Bryan Baptiste, who in less than two weeks will be sworn in as mayor.

But, it is not bigger than the island, said Baptiste, who feels a collective effort can make a difference in the local war on drugs.

"We need to give this problem the attention it deserves," Baptiste told over 30 members of the Lihue Business Association at its monthly meeting yesterday at Hawaiian Classic Desserts on Rice Street here.

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Property crime is the biggest single type of crime facing West Hawaii police, and our state overall suffers the distinction of leading the nation in some per capita rates of theft and larceny.

The problem on this island, say police and prosecutors, stems from a single underlying cause: Drugs.

"The reason we have so much property crime is an increase in crime related to 'ice' (crystal methamphetamine) use," Kona Police Patrol Capt. John Dawrs said. When officers arrest "ice" users, they usually find stolen property; when officers search for stolen property, they usually find "ice" users, Dawrs said.

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THE ISSUE - A national review of state laws against driving under the influence of drugs has suggested "zero tolerance."

DRUNKEN motorists are clearly identified by their blood-alcohol content, but authorities have no such formula to prove that a driver was under the influence of illicit drugs. Only eight states have "zero tolerance" for any drug use by motorists, while the other states, including Hawaii, require prosecutors to link erratic driving with drugs. Hawaii legislators should consider a flat prohibition of driving after using any illicit drug if no practical threshold level of drug content can be established.

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The Kaua'i Police Department is using a new federal computer communications system that has the power to track drug offenders and suspects throughout the United States.

Larry Burnett, director of the Hawaii High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program, presented a series of crime statistics related to the increasing drug problem in Hawai'i, in particular, crystal methamphetamine - often called "ice" or "batu." The monthly police commission meeting was held Friday afternoon in the Historic County Building.

Burnett said the goal is to reduce drug-related crime in Hawai'i by 10 percent in two years; by 25 percent in five years. A statewide $2.5 million grant will go toward programs to achieve that goal. The KPD is eligible for about $90,000 for training and specific drug operations.

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The Kauai Police Department is in line to receive $90,000 to battle drug abuse, and aiming at fighting those who sell and use crystal methamphetamine, a drug that's known on the street as "ice" or "batu."

The announcement came at a meeting of the Kaua'i Police Commission held Friday.

The KPD is becoming part of a nationwide federal communications system that tracks drug offenders and drug trafficking suspects.

The use of ice is a major problem on Kaua'i that hurts the entire community. The illegal substance draws both dealers and users into crime, and if not checked will lead dozens of today's Kaua'i children into crime when they come of age. Ice use and dealing leads to robberies, bad check writing, car theft and other crimes.

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Gov. Cayetano should agree with the incoming administration's request to shelve negotiations to build a new jail because he shares the same vision that the new administration and many residents of this state envision for our brothers and sisters who are caught up in the cycle of drugs, crime and prison.

Gov. Cayetano endorsed the implementation of the Hawai'i Drug Court program, launched by Lt. Gov.-elect Duke Aiona in 1996. Gov. Cayetano also introduced a law that is designed to provide treatment for first-time drug offenders.

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Your Nov. 14 article "Windward crime wave alarms residents" accurately pointed out the shortage of police officers here as well as the sad but true criminal effects of the "ice" epidemic upon Windward Oahu. As a health-care provider, may I add that this drug has similarly affected the mental health-care community as well.

There are financial and resource costs to ice use, beyond the most obvious costs of crime and the effects upon the families of people using ice. Ice induces biochemical changes in the brain that mimic mental illness, and eventually these changes are permanent. The mental-health community has seen a major onslaught of people in psychiatric crises induced by ice use.

The Honolulu Police Department needs the fiscal resources to recruit good police officers to handle the crime problem caused by ice use. Our mental-health resources also need the proper attention and resources to deal with this ever-growing problem.

Michelle Allen

Kailua

[end]

Dear Sir,

Reading your story on the internet about the DEA conducting still more raids on individuals and groups conducting legal grow operations makes it perfectly clear to me how silly things have become in the name of the silly (and tragic) drug war.

Just visualizing a team of federal agents going in and ripping up from the ground 20 ordinary plants, and I also recall images of Elliot Ness and his boys going through and doing the very same righteous seizing of whiskey kegs or bottles.

Those images from many movies that have been made about social phenomena during that time of the Noble Experiment. This drug prohibition could be called the Noble and Cruel Experiment. Or the Noble and Immoral Experiment.

Very truly yours,

Richard Sinnott

Fort Pierce, FL

[end]

Until the moment of her swearing in, Linda Lingle is not governor and Ben Cayetano is. So he still has the right to make gubernatorial decisions as he sees fit.

But since transition is less than a month away, it is imperative that the transfer of power go smoothly.

We're pleased to hear from the Lingle camp that relations with the Cayetano administration have been cordial. In that spirit, it is crucial the Cayetano administration sit down with the Lingle team to discuss the governor's plans for a new $130 million jail in Halawa.

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