Cops plot war on
‘ice’ on Big Isle

Crystal meth arrests more than
quadrupled in 2 years, police say

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By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.com

WAIKOLOA RESORT, Hawaii >> Hundreds of people including law enforcement officials and politicians have gathered on the Big Island to draw up battle plans in the war on crystal methamphetamine or "ice."

Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim, who last year declared war on the drug, told the gathering of 300 people at a West Hawaii resort that Hawaii's way of life is threatened.

"I have friends and family that drugs have ruined," he said. "We must make this problem known to the people of this island."

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye also delivered a warning: "This is a local problem."

Inouye said he has been told there is one town on the Big Island, which he declined to name, where 50 percent of the teenagers are addicted to ice.

The event, put on by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the private National Crime Prevention Council, was billed as the Hawaii Island Methamphetamine Summit, the sixth such event in the nation.

Acting Hawaii County Police Chief Lawrence Mahuna said the amount of ice confiscated and the number of related arrests more than quadrupled in 2000 from 1998.

DEA chief Asa Hutchinson said ice is "the No. 1 drug problem in rural America." Crack cocaine and ecstasy are bigger problems in cities, but ice is marketed more in rural areas, he said.

Ice is also so easy to make, a "laboratory" can be set up in the trunk of a car, a conference handout said.

The primary ingredient, pseudoephedrine, used for colds, headaches and allergies, is shipped by the ton to Canada, where there are no controls on it, Hutchinson said. From there, it's smuggled into the United States. The finished product is also smuggled from Mexico, he said.

Inouye warned: "There is no silver bullet. There is no easy answer."

But Hutchinson added, "Success is achievable." Drug use overall has been reduced 50 percent in the past 20 years, he said.

President Bush has promised $1.6 billion over the next five years and Inouye has obtained $4 million for the Big Island.

Hutchinson said a DEA "demand reduction coordinator," who will work on law enforcement, education and treatment, is being assigned to the Big Island.

U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo said he wants to expand the Weed and Seed program to the Big Island. The program "weeds out" criminals, then "seeds" federal money to rejuvenate the community. It has been successful in Kalihi-Palama, Chinatown and Waipahu, and is just starting in Ewa.

Conference attendees yesterday identified possible solutions, which will be forwarded to Washington, D.C., then returned to the Big Island in an interactive process over 12 to 18 months to develop a specific action plan.