Posted on: Tuesday, August 5, 2003

State laws hindering drug war, panel told

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Hawai'i's wiretapping laws and the state constitution must be changed to help officials fight the state's war on crystal methamphetamine, state and federal law enforcement officials told legislators yesterday.

Hawai'i has the worst crystal methamphetamine — or "ice" — problem in the nation, with about 30,000 "hard-core" users and 90,000 recreational users, U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo told a House-Senate Task Force on Ice and Drug Abatement. Kubo said Hawai'i's law-enforcement officials seize 100 to 200 pounds of crystal meth each year.

Policy-makers have been struggling with how to deal with the state's ice problem, which authorities say has grown tremendously.

"This is a problem that is threatening to tear apart our entire society here in Hawai'i," said state Attorney General Mark Bennett.

Kubo and Bennett said the state's wiretap laws have so many hurdles they are rarely used.

Hawai'i laws require an adversary hearing on a request for a wiretap warrant, a hearing in which the interests of the public are represented by a court-appointed lawyer who can attack the wiretap request.

Bennett gave the committee copies of letters from 10 state attorneys general, who said such laws could jeopardize investigations and if adopted in their states would eliminate use of wiretapping.

Kubo and Bennett also said the constitution should be amended to revive the "Walk and Talk" programs at the airport in which officers question and possibly search suspicious-looking passengers with their consent. This practice, which was approved by the U.S. Supreme Court nationwide, was declared unconstitutional by the Hawai'i Supreme Court in 1992.

"From that year on, drug organizations on the Mainland have been aware that Hawai'i has no effective defense to the importation of this drug into our state," Kubo said. "The hen house was left unguarded and the foxes are fully aware of this."

Bennett also said lawmakers should amend a 2002 law that aimed at diverting first-time, nonviolent drug offenders to substance-abuse treatment rather than incarceration. He said the law should be changed to "limit its sentencing provisions to those who are truly first-time offenders."

Kubo's written testimony also included recommendations to increase support for Hawai'i's nuisance abatement law, which targets neighborhood drug houses and labs, amend the landlord/tenant law to allow for quicker eviction of tenants who distribute or manufacture drugs, and increase drug treatment programs.

Task force co-chairman Eric Hamakawa said it was premature to take any positions about the recommendations, and that the task force needs to gather information from all stakeholders. He said the panel plans to talk with drug-treatment providers later.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.