Lingle wins federal support on 'ice'
By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration will provide $900,000 over three years to develop drug prevention and treatment programs on the Big Island, where rising abuse of the drug "ice" has alarmed health and law enforcement officials.
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Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced that the state had received the financial support after meeting yesterday with Gov. Linda Lingle, who is here talking with top administration officials about Hawai'i issues.
Gov. Linda Lingle is in Washington this week talking to top administration officials about Hawai'i issues.
"These new funds will help support programs on the Big Island that are proven to prevent and treat methamphetamine addiction," Thompson said.
Lingle said the state would create a "targeted strategy to reduce methamphetamine use on the Big Island and to build capacity for a sustained effort over time to keep the problem from occurring throughout our state."
Crystal methamphetamine, commonly known as "ice," is prevalent across Hawai'i, but trafficking and abuse have been most severe on the Big Island.
A federal spending bill signed into law by President Bush on Thursday includes $4 million to combat "ice" on the Big Island. Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i, has also helped obtain $350,000 in rural development money for new drug lab equipment for Big Island police.
Thompson's announcement was the highlight of Lingle's first full day of meetings here. The governor will attend the winter gathering of the National Governors Association over the weekend and testify in the Senate on Tuesday on behalf of federal recognition for Native Hawaiians. Lingle will also travel to New York next week for meetings with bond-rating firms, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
In between, Lingle has scheduled several media appearances to help raise Hawai'i's national profile. Yesterday, she discussed state and federal issues with reporters from USA Today and The Advertiser, and she is expected to appear Monday on CNN's "Inside Politics."
One of the primary objectives of the trip is to press the Bush administration to support federal recognition for Native Hawaiians and to counter some of the opposition from Republicans in Congress.
Lingle, as a Republican, may have greater leverage with the Bush administration than the Democrats in the Hawai'i congressional delegation.
Lingle talked privately yesterday with Attorney General John Ashcroft and hopes to meet later with Interior Department officials and key Republican lawmakers. She said she is outlining the cultural and legal context for the recognition bill and trying to overcome arguments by some Republican opponents that recognition would create race-based preferences for Native Hawaiians.
The governor said Native Hawaiians should be recognized as indigenous people, just as American Indians and Native Alaskans. "There is nothing race-based here," she said. "It's not about favored treatment, it's about equal treatment."
