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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, February 25, 2002

Progress slow in drug debate

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

The prison suicide of musician Mackey Feary three years ago this month initiated a lengthy public debate about whether drug addicts deserve treatment more than incarceration.

Musician Mackey Feary had drug problems.

Advertiser library photo

Today, treatment advocates and government officials say progress in this direction has been slow. And as the Legislature struggles to balance the budget in a weak economy, drug treatment has virtually dropped off the political radar.

"There's a lot of talk about the importance of drug treatment," said state Health Director Bruce Anderson. "The fact is we haven't seen much financial support for the program. I can only think there are other, more pressing social issues that have diverted attention away from this issue.

"I think it's one of those issues where people don't want to think about it, and hope that somehow it's going to fix itself over time, and the fact is that the problem is only getting worse."

Bryant "Mackey" Feary Jr., a singer-songwriter who fronted the popular quartet Kalapana in the 1970s and '80s, struggled with a crystal methamphetamine addiction before hanging himself in his cell at the Halawa Correctional Facility Feb. 20, 1999.

Although Feary was assigned to drug treatment programs, he violated his probation by continuing to use drugs. Feary's family said people suffering from drug addiction and depression, as he did, should receive long-term medical treatment instead of prison.

Feary's was one in a series of prominent "ice" cases involving public figures such as attorney Gary Modafferi and former state Sen. Milton Holt.

An estimated 15,000 Hawai'i residents need drug treatment but cannot afford it, state health officials say. Meeting that demand would cost approximately $82 million.

About 85 percent of Hawai'i's approximately 5,200 prison inmates have drug problems, according to Public Safety Director Ted Sakai. He said about half the inmates are in prison because they violated their probation or parole, usually because they resumed drug use.

Drug treatment advocates say there are not enough treatment programs for addicts, and that policy-makers need to recognize drug addiction as an illness rather than a crime.

Gov. Ben Cayetano has pushed in recent years for more drug treatment programs, especially for prison inmates. He has proposed bills to repeal a law imposing mandatory jail time for some offenses involving crystal methamphetamine, and to require treatment instead for first-time nonviolent drug offenders under a system modeled after programs in Arizona and California.

House and Senate Judiciary committees killed those measures, saying they would conflict with the state's Drug Court Program, which allows offenders to avoid prison by successfully completing drug treatment.

Lawmakers did give the administration $4.4 million last year — half of Cayetano's request — for a two-year pilot program for addicts on probation or parole. But the program, scheduled to begin last week, is delayed because money for the second year might be cut from the state budget.

"That would have been our first new money in, I'd say, eight or 10 years," said Elaine Wilson, chief of the department's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division. The program would have treated 241 adult drug offenders a year, she said.

New programs to treat inmates returning to the community and those on parole in the Neighbor Islands are also at risk of being cut from the budget, Sakai said.

The Health Department currently has about $10 million in state and federal money to provide drug treatment for 2,500 adults and 1,500 teenagers, she said.

Two years ago the prison system had 247 intensive-care drug treatment beds and 464 short-term drug treatment slots. The system also serves more than 30 inmates released on work furlough through a drug treatment program called Project Bridge.

The Department of Public Safety has since increased its treatment capacity in the Women's Community Correctional Center from 15 beds to about 70, started a 30-bed treatment program in Maui Community Correctional Center, and contracted with a private company to provide 10 treatment slots in Hilo for female inmates re-entering the community. Last year the department also expanded its Project Bridge program to serve about 15 inmates from the Women's Community Correctional Center who are on work furlough.

In recent years, the state Judiciary's Drug Court program — which allows nonviolent drug offenders to avoid prison by successfully completing drug treatment — has expanded to Maui and the Big Island and includes a juvenile drug court. The O'ahu Drug Court program also treats offenders' mental illnesses as well as addictions.

Senate President Robert Bunda, D-22nd (Wahiawa, Waialua, Sunset Beach), believes the state hasn't done enough to deal with the problem, and that many lawmakers are likely listening to a constituency that demands punishment for drug offenders. While the issue is important to him — a family member "near and dear to me" is a recovered drug abuser — the Legislature is focusing on improving the economy and education, he said.

Feary's sister, Dancetta Feary Kamai, said she understands the financial constraints on the state.

"I see people trying, but ... we just got to try harder," she said. "I think first and foremost we need to keep it in front of people's faces.... It is an epidemic, and it just will grow.

"I just want to keep his memory alive and make his death worth something."

You can reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.