Suit filed against drug
house in WaipahuA state injunction has kept eight
people away from the home
Influenced by friends, Leslie Pacariem started using crystal methamphetamine three years ago.
After she started, it only got worse, she said.
"It was getting out of hand," she said. "My drug use was getting heavier."
Child Protective Services took her children when she tested positive for crystal methamphetamine, or "ice," after she gave birth to her second child in September 2002.
That was her wake-up call. Pacariem sought treatment through Women's Way, a Salvation Army residential and outpatient treatment program.
She is now drug-free, but some family members continue to abuse drugs.
"Sad, but nobody can help them," said Pacariem, 23, who now lives in a clean and sober house in Makaha. "Only they can help themselves."
The state Attorney General Department filed a nuisance abatement lawsuit Thursday against an alleged drug house at 94-125 Pahu St., No. 51. Attorney General Mark Bennett alleged that illegal narcotics have been distributed from the house for at least two to three years.
The lawsuit seeks a court order to prohibit Pacariem's father, Rodolfo Pacariem; her brother's girlfriend, Kelly Dee Keiko Kahananui; and two other unnamed residents from living in or entering the Waipahu home.
The state also obtained a temporary injunction ordering the four residents and four other people to leave the house and not return for 10 days.
A copy of the complaint and injunction was served to Pacariem's father and Kahananui on Wednesday.
The state was scheduled to ask a Circuit Court judge today to extend the injunction.
Leslie Pacariem lived in the house while she was using drugs. Her mother, who does not use drugs, still lives there. Pacariem stops by for a visit once in a while.
She said she had abused drugs with her brother Robert and her sister Jorelyn, who has been at the Women's Community Correctional Center since September for a parole violation.
"They respect that I did stop," said Pacariem.
Their mother, Erlinda, said, "I feel bad. I no can stop them."
This is the first nuisance abatement lawsuit filed against a home in Waipahu and the fourth nuisance abatement lawsuit filed by the state Attorney General Department's Drug Nuisance Abatement Unit.
According to Bennett, a resident told the Attorney General Department the Waipahu home has a reputation as a drug house. The resident reported "people walking, riding bikes and mopeds, coming and going, all day and all night" at the home.
A search of the home on Sept. 13 found illegal narcotics, Bennett said.
"I'm worried but cannot help," Pacariem said of the lawsuit. "I was around drugs. I'm glad I got myself out of it."