Big Isle facility
to treat teen addictsThe center for "ice" addiction
is scheduled to open in January
HILO >> Billy Kenoi, coordinator of the Big Island's battle against crystal methamphetamine, grasped his head in his hands.
"You live in here," he said, mimicking a teenager buzzed on "ice."
Beginning next year, teenage ice addicts on the Big Island will receive treatment at a facility where they will plant native crops, tend animals, sail a Hawaiian canoe and receive school credit while getting off the drug.
"Now you get them outside themselves," Kenoi said.
Charles Curie, director of the U.S. Substance Abuse Mental Health Service Administration in Washington, D.C., handed Mayor Harry Kim a large mockup of a check for $893,986 yesterday to help turn the teen treatment center into a reality.
The payments will be in installments of $300,000 over two years and the remainder the last year, Kenoi said.
Curie said the facility will address a "horrendous tragedy": Addicted teenagers have to be sent to Oahu or Maui for treatment, cutting them off from their families.
"I think that Hawaii is on the cusp of some tremendous things happening," he said.
"We want to stop people from jumping into the sea and drowning in addiction," he said. "We understand that there are people already in the water."
Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona, attending the ceremonies in Kim's office, noted that Curie's agency also promised $3.6 million over a five-year period on Wednesday for state programs treating patients with combined drug abuse and mental health problems.
Kenoi said 200 Big Island teenagers a year are now sent off island for treatment.
He hopes to have the eight of the 16 beds planned for the Big Island facility functioning by January. With clients receiving treatment in four-month periods, 48 teens will eventually be treated per year. The cost will be $100,000 per bed per year.
A January startup imposes a tight schedule. Kenoi has not yet concluded negotiations for a site, planned for somewhere in North Hawaii within reach of the Makalii sailing canoe at Kawaihae Harbor.
But he is optimistic.
"The goal is to make this so good that kids who don't need treatment want to be in the program," he said.
