Police predict 'ice' numbers to surpass '02

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Trends from the first half of the year suggest that the amount of crystal methamphetamine seized by police and the number of confirmed ice labs will exceed last year's totals, a Honolulu police captain told state lawmakers yesterday.

"Numbers are way up for this year," Lima said. "We're going to surpass last year's numbers easily."

Meanwhile, police have found nine clandestine labs where ice is produced so far this year, compared with 15 last year, Lima said.

Drug-related search warrants also are likely to exceed last year's level. This year, 105 have been issued compared with 143 last year. The warrants dealt with all drugs and not just ice, but Lima said he thought his narcotics/vice division was doing a "stand-up job" of presenting enough evidence for state judges to issue search warrants for homes and establishments.

The committee has been holding informational hearings to help lawmakers determine how the Legislature can address the escalating crystal methamphetamine crisis in Hawai'i.

City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle also gave a presentation to the committee yesterday, providing an overview of how the state should deal with the ice problem .

Carlisle pushed for early intervention, rather than paying for treatment of chronic ice addicts who have already turned to criminal behavior. He said prevention should focus on families and schools to stop children from using the drug while they are still casual users.

"It turns out if they're using this and abusing it at that age, then it becomes far more difficult to get them away from it later on in their life and far more likely that they will become a perpetual slave to addiction," he said.

Carlisle said he would like to see mandatory drug testing in schools, as well as a change in the law to allow drug analysis of hair, which retains drug residue for 90 days. He said the testing should be confidential and nonpunitive, and that schools could not use the results to initiate criminal charges.

Carlisle also wants to see changes to the state wiretap law, which currently allows a criminal attorney to be present when the judge decides whether to grant a wire tap. In addition, he argued for sentencing changes that would make multiple misdemeanors a felony, a repeat offender law for all crimes and a repeal of Act 161, which allows nonviolent drug offenders to go to treatment rather than prison.

Committee co-chairwoman Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, D-21, (Nana-

kuli, Makaha) said she found Carlisle's remarks on drug treatment "somewhat disturbing."

Hanabusa said that she expects the Legislature to remain committed to treatment, but the committee will have to explore whether they will have to respond to the issues he has raised.

Committee co-chairman Rep. Eric Hamakawa, D-3rd (Hilo, Kea'au, Mountain View), said he was pleased and surprised to hear Carlisle suggest that federal marijuana eradication money be used to combat ice instead.

"I think it's a wonderful idea," he said. "It's refreshing to hear it from the prosecutor."

Hamakawa said he expected the committee to seriously consider mandatory drug testing in public schools, although he did not know whether it would make it into the legislative package. "It's something that's on the table for discussion," he said.

The committee heard from state narcotics experts earlier this month and will meet with the attorney general, U.S. attorney, the judiciary, treatment providers and others.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.