Drug war blueprint
moves to LingleA three-day meeting ends
with optimism, but concerns
remain over necessary funds
The Lingle administration ended its three-day drug summit yesterday with 11 recommendations compiled by more than 400 participants in an unprecedented collaborative effort to combat substance abuse in Hawaii.
The recommendations included increasing funding for treatment so drug abusers can get adequate help; toughening search and seizure laws to catch more drug dealers; establishing a Hawaii Substance Abuse Commission to oversee coordination of public and private agencies; and raising funds for treatment by forcing drug dealers to forfeit assets.
The Lingle administration is expected to study the recommendations and use them as the basis for a package of bills and initiatives to present to the Legislature in January.
As they left the ballrooms of the Sheraton Waikiki yesterday, many participants praised the Hawaii Drug Control Strategy Summit for the way it brought together people from the fields of prevention, treatment, law enforcement and the community to focus on solving one problem.
Many also praised the process of breaking into work groups with professional facilitators, who used colored markers and huge sheets of paper to help them pull their ideas together into recommendations.
Some said there was a lasting benefit in meeting people face to face that previously they had only known by reputation or work.
But with a tight state budget, many participants also questioned what would happen to recommendations that required increased funding.
"So what's next? It goes to the governor and then what? Who owns this?" asked Bob Nakata, a former legislator who participated in the conference as pastor of the Kahaluu Methodist Church, which has been organizing the community to fight crystal methamphetamine, or "ice," abuse.
Nakata said the administration has said there "will be little if any extra funding. And many of the recommendations are for increasing funding for things like treatment. So what can be done?"
Nakata said out loud what others said in private.
But participant Claire Wood, who runs a treatment program at the Salvation Army and who had previously expressed skepticism about the summit, praised the effort yesterday.
"I'm still cautiously optimistic," she said. "A lot of good people worked hard here."
Greg Tjapes, corporate development officer for Hina Mauka Recovery Center, added that "there was a huge focus on treatment here that I didn't expect to hear. We have to have more treatment."
"This is the beginning, but there has to be some kind of follow-up. People will be watching and asking what's next," Tjapes said.
In his closing statement, Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona, who organized and hosted the summit, told the crowd "it was difficult to hear that many of you came to the summit thinking it was a done deal."
He added, "But I feel you put that aside and have collaborated. I hope you leave here knowing that your voices have been heard."
Meanwhile, the Legislature has convened a joint House and Senate task force that is also studying methamphetamine and drug abuse with the aim of drawing up its own legislative package.
Several legislators, including some on the task force, were guests at the summit.
"We all recognize this is a monumental task. We need some system changes," said Aiona.
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Proposals target drug problem
Final recommendations made in seven areas identified by summit participants include:1. Centralizing body: Create a Hawaii Substance Abuse Commission comprised of executive, legislative, judicial, public, private, community and consumer representatives to serve as an advocate, create state drug policy and coordinate funding.
2. Coordinate efforts: Appoint a temporary director to follow up on the summit and to guide the legislative establishment of an executive branch-level office on drug abuse.
3. Treatment philosophy: Treat substance abuse as a disease and a public health issue. Aggressively pursue federal grant money to increase treatment availability. Adequately fund treatment on the basis of individual needs rather than a one-size-fits-all philosophy. Fund substance abuse treatment at the same level as other diseases, and provide funding when people relapse as they do with other diseases.
4. Treatment access: Expand treatment funding and capacity "for comprehensive treatment on demand" so people can get treatment when they need it, for the type and length of treatment they need. Ensure sufficient funding to cover both treatment and recovery.
5. Legal changes: Make treatment mandatory for drug offenders, and give law enforcement tougher wiretapping and search and seizure laws "so they can arrest and prosecute drug dealers." Give judges the means for "appropriate sentencing" of drug dealers and abusers.
6. Multisector collaboration: "Establish community-based, state-supported collaboration that will strengthen and expand a continuum of services that is culturally sensitive utilizing promising and best practices."
7. Community: "The communities of Hawaii, in the spirit of aloha, will be equal voices and partners in designing, developing and deciding strategies, resources and systems of allocation to attain and sustain all our agreed-upon goals."
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Grant focuses on
Hawaii will receive $3.6 million over the next five years to treat people who have both a mental disorder and a drug or alcohol abuse problem.
mental illness and drugsThe announcement was made on the third and last day of the state's Drug Control Strategy Summit in a speech by Charles Curie, administrator of the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, part of the Health and Human Services Department.
Curie said that Hawaii, the first state in the nation to receive the newly created grant, beat out 42 other states for the money. He said six other states will receive similar grants targeted for people with dual or "co-occurring" substance abuse and mental disorders.
Treatment experts say that methamphetamine addicts, in particular, suffer from more than one disorder at a time.
The grant will provide more than $1 million in each of the first three years, $540,872 in the fourth year and $100,000 in the last year.
Sally Apgar, Star-Bulletin
