Posted on: Thursday, January 15, 2004

EDITORIAL
Lingle's dismay over ice plan is dismaying

If there's one thing we learned from all the community forums on crystal methamphetamine, it's that Hawai'i's ice epidemic is not somebody else's problem.

It's everyone's problem, because it affects our friends, families, neighbors and colleagues. And that's why the solutions have to come from the grass roots rather than the top down. If the community doesn't buy into the resistance, then it simply won't succeed.

So it's rather disconcerting that Gov. Linda Lingle expressed disappointment with recommendations from a legislative task force whose input on how to mitigate Hawai'i's ice epidemic came largely from the community.

The task force's suggestions range from an expansion of prevention and treatment programs to tougher sentences for those who sell and manufacture ice. The price tag is estimated at about $21 million.

Lingle calls it another example of "throwing money" at a problem, likening it to Hawai'i's costly effort to come into compliance with the federal Felix consent decree, which mandated improved services for special-needs students.

But services cost money, and the Felix debacle showed us that if we fail to provide those services now, we'll spend a lot more money putting out fires later.

So it's best that we ensure everyone with a drug problem has access to treatment, because court expenses, prison, medical treatment, foster care and all the other costs associated with drug addiction will be a lot more exorbitant in the long run.

Lingle also complained that the study didn't endorse tougher anti-drug measures, such as an easing of wiretap restrictions and a constitutional amendment to allow police officers to conduct "walk and talk" interviews of suspicious passengers at airports.

While we sympathize with the frustrations of police who want more tools to bust drug dealers, there are constitutional protections and privacy rights that shouldn't be compromised for marginal gains in the war on ice.

We commend the Joint House-Senate Task Force on Ice and Drug Abatement for trying hard to find a balance between community and law enforcement initiatives. There's room for compromise in the agendas of the Legislature and the governor, and we'd rather see Lingle work with the panel than undermine its efforts and those of the community at large.