[ OUR OPINION ]

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We need fast action
to fight crystal meth

THE ISSUE A state survey indicates that more isle residents were treated last year for 'ice' abuse than for alcohol and marijuana abuse combined.

NEW figures compiled by the state confirm that crystal methamphetamine is the most addictive drug in Hawaii, and the problem is growing at a frightening pace. A legislative task force and the Lingle administration are embarked on efforts to deal with the nascent crisis and should work together in combating it through treatment and prevention.

Six years ago, 22 percent of drug-treatment admissions in Hawaii were for methamphetamine, far greater even then than in any other state. Figures compiled by the state Department of Health's alcohol and drug abuse division from a survey of state-funded, community-based treatment facilities indicate that the number of adults treated for "ice" addiction has nearly doubled since 1998. More adults were treated last year for ice addiction than for alcohol and marijuana abuse combined.

The ice problem seems to afflict adults more than adolescents. A state survey of school-based and court-ordered programs showed that 949 adolescents were treated last year for marijuana abuse, compared to 378 for alcohol and 158 for crystal meth.

In an opinion column on this page yesterday, Richard O. Rowland of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii questioned whether the solution is to "cure" drug abusers. He maintained that the real antidote is to teach values and morals at home. Any "epidemic," he suggested, is merely a reflection of the community's morals.

Providing moral guidance to families may be effective in the long run, although difficult. However, immediate action is needed to make treatment available to residents who have succumbed to the addiction and to prevent the most vulnerable from embracing the dangerous drug -- and with it the commission of property crimes to support their habit.

"It's a moving target to define an epidemic," William Wood, a University of Hawaii sociology professor, told the Star-Bulletin's Sally Apgar, "but a characteristic of an epidemic is that it is a problem so pervasive it is affecting a large population. We have an ice epidemic, and the trends show it is getting worse with no signs of letting up."

We were critical of government officials earlier this month for using inflated figures in assessing ice abuse in the state. Actual figures don't need to be overstated to describe the seriousness of the problem. State officials now must turn to ways of fighting it.

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Judge’s antics typify
an elected judiciary

THE ISSUE A large stone bearing the Ten Commandments has been removed from the Alabama Judicial Buildings' rotunda by federal court order.

THE demagogue chief justice of Alabama's Supreme Court has been suspended after defying a federal court order that a two-ton granite monument engraved with the Ten Commandments be removed from the courthouse rotunda. Skirmishes about where to draw the line separating church and state have been waged for decades in Hawaii and other states, but the country's secular foundation had not faced such open defiance. The rule of law has prevailed once again over religious zeal.

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is a product of an elected judiciary. He is an example of why the Hawaii and federal systems of choosing qualified judges to the bench provide protection from political or religious extremism. Alabama's other justices, its attorney general and its Judicial Inquiry Commission -- many of whom share Moore's religious beliefs -- had to step in and responsibly assert the rule of law. A Roy Moore would not make it to Hawaii's highest court.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled for more than a century that the United States is a religious nation, and references to deities, such as "In God we trust," are allowed on currency or in other settings. However, the court appropriately ruled in 1980 that the Ten Commandments "are undeniably a sacred text in the Jewish and Christian faiths." The opening words, it noted, are "I am the Lord thy God," hardly a secular message.

Four years later, the court held that the government cannot place symbols indicating religious preference on public property. The American Civil Liberties Union cited that ruling in successfully calling for removal of a large, illuminated cross at Camp H.M. Smith on Halawa Heights.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cited the 1980 case in ordering Moore to remove the Ten Commandments from the rotunda, and Moore lost his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Otherwise, the appellate judges pointed out, "Every government building could be topped with a cross, or a menorah, or a statue of Buddha, depending on the views of the officials with authority over the premises. A crèche could occupy the place of honor in the lobby or rotunda of every municipal, county, state and federal building. Proselytizing religious messages could be played over the public address system in every government building at the whim of the official in charge of the premises."