Advocate touts aggressive
treatments for ‘ice’Dismissing students with drugs
from school is wrong, he says
WAILUKU >> The executive director of a substance abuse rehabilitation center on Maui has criticized a state Department of Education practice allowing school administrators to dismiss students caught possessing illegal drugs.
"That's kind of counterproductive, in my view," said Jud Cunningham, executive director of Aloha House Inc.
Cunningham made the comments yesterday to a Joint House-Senate Committee on Ice and Drug Abatement visiting Maui as part of its statewide effort to gather information about drugs, including crystal methamphetamine, or "ice," for the 2004 Legislature.
The committee toured the 32-bed Aloha House, a nonprofit group that treats substance abusers, and also held a public hearing last night attended by more than 70 people in the Maui County Council chambers.
Cunningham told the committee that students should be placed in a drug-abuse program in the public schools.
He also proposed placing a drug-abuse counselor at each intermediate school, in addition to high schools.
He said individuals in treatment should be provided opportunities to reconnect with their cultural heritage as a way to strengthen their recovery outcome.
State House Judiciary Chairman Eric Hamakawa (D, Hilo-Glenwood) said committee members will be reviewing the testimonies and also statistics about drug use, including ice.
Maui Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto, who heads the Maui Drug Court, said he believes about 80 percent of the 750 new felonies occurring in the county each year are committed by people using ice and other drugs.
Aloha House officials said ice has created additional problems in drug treatment.
An ice user takes longer to undergo detoxification, about three to four weeks, compared with a week for users of other drugs, officials said.
Frank Siminski, an Aloha House case manager, said a couple of ice users, one 19 and another 22, will never be the same because of mental problems, including schizophrenia.
Aloha House officials said they have a waiting list of applicants but are unable to accommodate them because of a lack of staff.
Cunningham said the state Health Department's "integrated case management" program that treats those in the criminal justice system needs more funding.
He said the original request was for $4.4 million, but the amount was cut to $2.2 million.
