Hawaii

"We do have some law enforcement legislative packages, but that approach cannot be the answer in and of itself," she added. "It won't work, and it's extremely expensive. You have to have prisons, and we're already shipping a good percentage of our prisoners out of state, almost 2,000 out of 5,000, and then we have to pay other states, Oklahoma or Texas, to watch our prisoners," she continued. "No, we have put a lot of money on early intervention, we'll be asking for funding for those sorts of programs, and for treatment."

At a time when state legislatures around the country are responding to methamphetamine use with such reflexive measures as increasing sentences for meth offenses, restricting the sale of legal products that can be used in meth manufacture, and heightening penalties for other meth-related offenses, such as stealing anhydrous ammonia, the Hawaii legislative task force's embrace of a public health approach to ice use and its attendant social consequences -- whether derived from prohibition or from the particular pharmacological effects of the drug itself -- is remarkable. And the task force is putting its money where its mouth is. Spending priorities for the $21.6 million dollar set of programs are as follows: $10.7 million for adult drug treatment $4.5 million for teen intervention and drug treatment $3.5 million for drug abuse prevention for families, schools, and youth programs $1.2 million for expanded drug court programs $850,000 to fund the state's "treatment not jail" program for first-time, nonviolent drug offenders, which the legislature passed in 2002 but failed to fund $300,000 to study the impact of ice labs on Hawaii's environment, particularly groundwater supplies

According to the task force, some 20,000 Hawaiian adults need drug treatment, and 10,000 of those want it. But with treatment available for only 6,000 of those, the task force identified a shortfall. Its recommendations are intended to provide treatment for anyone willing to accept it. "The problem we have here is with future costs," said Sen. Hanabusa. "We know that for every dollar we put into treatment or prevention, we'll save seven down the road. If people look at the cost savings, they will see it makes sense to fund this."
It's not all sweetness and light and fiscal responsibility, however. While it shot down the governor's wiretapping and "walk and talk" proposals, the task force did endorse stiffer sentences for drug traffickers, for harming children exposed to ice, operating ice labs near schools or public parks, and distributing drugs to pregnant women. The task force also recommended toughening the state's paraphernalia laws, more funding for drug dogs in the Department of Public Safety, and funds to the Office of Community Services to coordinate community, government, and law enforcement anti-ice efforts.

Reflexive "tough on crime" measures notwithstanding, drug reformers and researchers involved in the issue pronounced themselves generally satisfied. "It's actually a pretty decent set of recommendations," said Pam Lichty, head of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii. "While no one has seen the actual bills yet, by and large they are taking the public health approach. They are talking about spending a lot of money on treatment, prevention, and funding the diversion program for drug offenders," she told DRCNet. "And while there are some parts of the package that we don't like, the task force explicitly rejected changing the wiretapping laws. The law enforcement coalition really wants that, but the task force noted that they asked for more information from prosecutors about how they are hampered by current law, and they didn't get it."

"I was very, very pleased with the recommendations," said Alice Dickow of the Ice Treatment Project and principal investigator for the MATRIX study, an 18-month look at women and methamphetamine abuse. "The fact that they lead with the statement that it's a public health issue is heartening. It's a very enlightened and helpful approach. It also shows they listened, because they heard reams of testimony to that effect," she told DRCNet.

"I was concerned during this process that with two campaigns being waged -- the anti-crime law enforcement campaign and the treatment and prevention campaign -- that the public health message would be obscured in the furor over how best to crime-fight this," she added. "That didn't happen. And the amount the recommended indicated they were aware they couldn't use half-measures."