Drug treatment for all 'not feasible'

By Johnny Brannon and Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writers

Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona said he hopes efforts to reduce drug abuse will produce results within one year, but that details about how new proposals would be implemented and paid for must still be worked out.

Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona said Hawai'i doesn't have enough data, treatment providers or money to immediately help every drug abuser in the state who needs it. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

"I think if they're going to come up with a general plan such as 'treatment on demand,' then that's not going to work, that's not feasible," he said at a news conference on state efforts to stamp out crystal methamphetamine and other drugs while helping abusers.

One goal is to improve middle-school programs that steer students toward healthy lifestyles and focus on sports, culture, arts and ocean activities, Aiona said.

Another priority is to improve programs for prison inmates who are released after serving their sentences, he said.

"We know that we need to transition our prisoners back into the community, and we sorely lack both treatment and services in regards to this transition process," Aiona said.

An earlier proposal to test school students for illegal drugs is not likely to be carried out any time soon, he said, but may depend on how lawmakers feel about it.

He said it was too soon to say how much plans for students and prisoners would cost, or where the money would come from.

"But I'm confident that we can find some funding for it because it is a priority for the administration," and budget proposals for the next fiscal year are now being prepared, said Aiona, who spearheaded a state drug-control summit in September.

In an interview, Aiona said Hawai'i doesn't have enough data, treatment providers or money to immediately help every drug abuser who needs it.

"I don't know of any state or any community in the country that has that," he said. "That's the goal of, I think, every community, but it's just not achievable."

Kat Brady, coordinator of the Community Alliance on Prisons and a drug-treatment advocate, said the state would have more money for substance-abuse programs if mandatory sentences for crystal methamphetamine offenses were eliminated. More nonviolent drug users should be sent to treatment programs instead of prison, she said.

Waiting lists for treatment programs show the need is there, Brady said, and they should be supported with more money.

"As for having no resources, I don't buy it," Brady said. "Basically, Hawai'i has resources. It's how we're spending our resources, that's the real issue."

But some offenders may be headed to prison for longer terms soon. Attorney General Mark Bennett said he will ask lawmakers to approve tougher sentences for career criminals and habitual thieves.

Convicted felons who commit additional felonies should face longer sentences, Bennett said. And if a person is convicted of four property crimes within five years, the latest offense should be treated as a felony even if it would normally be a misdemeanor, so the offender would face a five-year prison term, he said.

The proposals shouldn't be compared to notoriously harsh "three-strikes" laws of other states, "but we are trying to propose something that helps address some of the revolving-door justice that we have for people who have significant records," he said.

Gov. Linda Lingle said her administration still hopes to build one or more new prisons but had not decided on a specific location or facility.

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