Editorials
Thursday, December 30, 1999
OHA board’s failure
to make appointmentYESTERDAY we carried an article by Rowena Akana, chairwoman of the board of trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. She claimed several accomplishments for OHA during the past year, while acknowledging "a few disappointments."The issue: The board of trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has failed to agree on a replacement for a trustee who retired.
The same editions of the Star-Bulletin reported the failure of the OHA board to choose a replacement trustee to complete the remainder of the term of Moses Keale, who retired on Oct. 31. This was the third and final attempt of the board to make this decision, which will now be left to Governor Cayetano.
This is not the first time the board has found itself too divided to make such an appointment -- a basic function of any board. The same problem occurred about a year ago, with the appointment again left to the governor.
The deadlock reflects the bickering among the trustees that has plagued OHA virtually since its inception and kept it from fulfilling its promise.
An even worse fiasco was trustee Mililani Trask's criticism of Senator Inouye. Akana's response in the article was to chide the people who leaked Trask's tasteless remarks to the press, not Trask for making them.
Office of Hawaiian Affairs
Online drugs
PRESCRIPTION drug sales are regulated mostly by states, but drug sales over the Internet may be beyond their grasp. President Clinton has responded to complaints about Internet drug sales by proposing that pharmaceutical Web sites be regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Federal involvement is warranted, but even that will be limited to sales within U.S. boundaries.
Clinton would give the FDA power to regulate online drug sales and fine "rogue" Web operators that unethically or illegally dispense prescriptions.
Online pharmacies would be required to obtain FDA certification to sell drugs over the Internet. They would be subject to fines of up to $500,000 for selling drugs without a prescription.
This is the first attempt by the federal government to regulate Internet sales and regulation is more likely to succeed in this area than in any other. People are less likely to buy prescription drugs at uncertified Internet sites than to shop for other merchandise online at sites lacking the government's stamp of approval. Sites approved by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy bear its certificate.
Out-of-state pharmacies, including Internet operators, are required to obtain a permit from the Hawaii State Board of Pharmacy before selling prescription drugs to Hawaii residents. Major online pharmacies are similarly licensed in all 50 states.
Michigan has ordered 10 online pharmacies to stop selling drugs or face legal action, and Illinois has filed suit against four operators. But such actions are difficult when the patient, the pharmacy and the Internet operator are located in different states.
Clinton is asking Congress for $10 million next year to hire about 100 investigators and upgrade computers in launching the federal effort. The proposal should go forward in recognition of the fact that states are not equipped to regulate an industry that knows no boundaries but is of vital importance to Americans' health and safety.
Canadian border
AMERICANS have worried little about our border with Canada while focusing concerns on the border with Mexico because of illegal immigration and drug smuggling. However, the recent arrest of an Algerian accused of carrying false identification and bringing bomb-making material into the United States from British Columbia has spurred concern about the Canadian border.
This apparently is not the first instance of terrorists using Canada as a back door to the United States. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service reported that terrorist organizations in Canada have had a "direct or indirect association" with the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, suicide bombings in Israel and the bombing of a U.S. military barracks in Saudi Arabia. The director of the service said his agency was investigating about 50 terrorist groups operating in Canada.
The official, Ward Elcock, in testimony before a parliamentary committee, said Canada's democratic principles, multiethnic society and its policy of welcoming immigrants mean the country "can be seen as a haven" for terrorists.
In the current case, the accused, Ahmed Ressam, entered Canada on a petition for asylum and then eluded authorities for nearly six years despite several violations of the law.
No one knows how many terrorists have slipped across the Canadian border into the United States undetected, but the situation calls for greater vigilance. The U.S. Border Patrol has only 289 agents on the Canadian border, compared with 8,200 along the Mexican border.
The number of illegal immigrants entering the U.S. from Mexico vastly exceeds the number from Canada. But a handful of terrorists entering the country from Canada to set off bombs can do far more harm than thousands entering the country from Mexico to seek employment.
Security on the Canadian border must be tightened. There is no room for complacency in an age of terrorism.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
