Mililani residents vow to fight drugs

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

MILILANI — Mililani residents took their first baby steps last night in a new campaign to rid their community of drugs, particularly "ice."

More than 100 people turned out for a forum at the Mililani High School cafeteria to discuss the drug problem and come up with solutions. The first of many meetings to be scheduled because of the growing concern about illicit drugs in the community was organized by City Councilmen Nestor Garcia and Donovan Dela Cruz.

The audience heard from a panel of experts which included police officers, drug counselors, a recovering drug addict, U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo and city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle. All agreed there is a problem in Mililani and that the best way to reduce or eliminate the drug presence is to band together and fight it, neighborhood by neighborhood.

Garcia praised the residents for showing interest and said winning the battle will be difficult, but not impossible. He reminded them that in the 1980s, Mililani residents joined to clean their drinking water of pesticides that leached into the ground after decades of agricultural use in the region.

"Now we have a different contamination to face," Garcia said. "It's not going to be easy. Those people out there that we are fighting are counting on us to quit, to lose heart, and to give up. Then they will take over. I want you to take your neighborhoods back."

Several people complained that they had "ice" houses on their streets, but said they were afraid to report the problem and face possible retaliation. One woman said she was worried just to speak up at last night's forum.

Wahiawa police Sgt. Fay Tamura thanked the woman for speaking out and suggested she and others in her situation form community watch programs.

"One person standing up against a drug house is spooky, but an entire neighborhood isn't," Tamura said.

Parents as role models

Many on the panel said the best way to prevent drug use is through the family. Alvin Shinn of the Coalition for a Drug Free Hawai'i said the "main line of defense" is the basic relationship between parents and children.

He said parents need to be role models by keeping alcohol, tobacco and drugs out of the home. Children also must be taught at an early age the dangers of experimenting with drugs, he said.

"If we can keep kids away from alcohol, tobacco and other drugs until they're 21, there's a great chance that they will never, ever abuse any drugs or alcohol," Shinn said.

He said parents also need to be educated on the substances out there and to find out what's going on with their children.

"Even the simple act of having dinner together as family dramatically reduces the incidences of substance abuse among teenagers," he said. "So just sitting down at dinner and talking about things is a preventative action in itself."

Another woman said she also has drug dealers working out of a house on her street. She said she has called authorities, but nothing has been done.

The woman, who did not want her named used, said after the meeting that she had hoped that more solutions would have come out of last night's forum.

"We already know that we need prevention and education. I wished people would have spoken up a little more about what the problem is and how we can solve the problem. We need a solution," she said.

But she said she will continue to attend meetings and plans on organizing a community watch program.

"If we as neighbors have to pay for an off-duty police officer to be on our street, by golly, we will do that because the problem is getting out of hand," she said.

Lack of programs

The panel agreed that a lack of programs and money for programs are problems. But Kubo and Carlisle said sometimes the solution is incarceration.

The anti-drug effort in Mililani comes on the heals of a successful sign-waving campaign in Kahalu'u involving hundreds of residents determined to stamp out drugs in their community. In the audience last night to offer their support were Kahalu'u organizers Keith Ryder and former state Sen. Bob Nakata.

More than 50 Mililani residents, community leaders, students and others held a similar sign-waving rally Wednesday to tell people they, too, will not tolerate drugs. Garcia said last night that the next community meeting will be the week of June 23 at a location to be determined.