Isles due
$1 million for
drug war
The federal aid is aimed at
By Susan Kreifels
helping crack down on
methamphetamine traffickers
in the islands
Star-BulletinHawaii will receive more than $1 million in federal aid next year to help crack down on methamphetamine traffickers who have raised drug abuse to epidemic proportions here.
The state was one of five areas added to a list of 26 places nationwide that will share more than $190 million. U.S. Attorney Steve Alm, attending a conference today in Washington for drug-control leaders, said the money will be used to set up a statewide intelligence center investigating drug-trafficking operations. It will involve all local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.
"This provides some additional dollars to get us organized in a way no one agency could do on its own," Alm said in a telephone interview. The intelligence will be shared with state and national law enforcers. Much of Hawaii's drug supply comes from Mexico and California.
"Ice is causing a tremendous amount of damage to the state," Alm said. "The only way to fight it is with a really comprehensive program."
The federal Office of National Drug Control Policy presented a report today describing the government's war on drugs in 31 battlegrounds called High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas. From the Mexican border to the streets of New York, these areas have been selected during the last decade as regions with serious drug problems that also harm other areas of the country.
The report said Hawaii is a logical planning, staging and transit point for drug-trafficking between the continental United States, Canada, Asia and the Pacific region, with most drugs coming into the state through Honolulu Airport.
"No other United States jurisdiction is better positioned geographically to collect and analyze international and regional intelligence ... and to develop a coordinated, proactive response," the report said.
The report said Hawaii's position in the national drug market was unique because of its location and that drugs, "like other commodities, command a premium price within the state; therefore, trafficking organizations have found it extremely profitable to establish distribution outlets here.
Many of the groups operating within Hawaii are comprised of members from the same ethic background or family associations.
"As Honolulu is a principal, financial center for the Pacific Rim and often serves as the initial entry for Asian wire transfers, money-laundering activities are likely to increase."
Law enforcement agents fought a surge in methamphetamine trafficking and use across the Midwest in 1999 by seizing hundreds of secret drug labs, deflating the image of drugs as only an urban problem, according to the Associated Press.
In the first half of this year, local and federal law enforcement seized 238 meth or "speed" labs in Kansas, 242 in Iowa and 223 in Missouri, according to a report released today detailing the government's anti-drug efforts across the nation.
"We do not just have a national drug problem. What we really have is a series of local drug epidemics," said Barry McCaffrey, the administration's drug policy chief.
In the high trafficking areas, local, state, federal and military law enforcement agencies work together on various projects to oppose illegal drug use and distribution.
After starting with a federal investment of $25 million shared among five regions in 1990, the program will divide more than $190 million in 2000.
Area law enforcement agencies have turned high-tech in recent years, creating a computer network containing photographs of every person arrested on state or federal charges in New York City and Westchester and Nassau Counties.
