VOLCANIC ASH

By David Shapiro

The manslaughter conviction of Tayshea Aiwohi in the ice death of her 2-day-old son Treyson bared deep divisions in our community over how to battle Hawai'i's epidemic of crystal methamphetamine addiction.

Prosecutors express satisfaction about Aiwohi's plea-bargained sentence of 10 years probation for recklessly causing her son's death by smoking ice during her pregnancy and on the day of his birth.

They said they didn't want to put the 31-year-old mother of five in prison, only to win justice for Treyson and send a message to drug-using pregnant women that they'll be held accountable for resulting harm to their children after birth.

But Aiwohi's attorney said it was "perverse" and "mean-spirited" for the state to bring charges that were the first of their kind in Hawai'i — especially two years after the fact, when Aiwohi had beaten her addiction and was doing well raising her other children and working successfully to help other addicts kick their habits.

Her supporters in the social services community said the prosecution was an ethical quagmire in which the war on drugs intersected uneasily with basic issues of women's rights.

Where does it end? Do pregnant women face threat of prosecution for endangering their babies by smoking tobacco? Drinking alcohol? Body surfing? Lifting heavy boxes?

Social service advocates said it is unfair for pregnant women — some of them very young — to be held legally accountable for the health of their babies when they have inadequate access and no legal right to childbirth education, prenatal care and treatment for drug addiction.

They have a point. The Aiwohi sentencing came a day after drug treatment providers complained their efforts are at a standstill because Gov. Linda Lingle hasn't released some $15 million allocated by the Legislature for drug abatement.

But prosecutors have a point, too. If drug abusers are held accountable for other crimes committed while under the influence — burglary, robbery, assault — why not reckless endangerment?

It was troubling that none of the family members or former drug-treatment clients who spoke for Aiwohi at her sentencing hearing expressed regret about Treyson's death, or even mentioned the child.

The case did little to resolve the complex underlying issues of morality and justice.

The same issues are playing out in a broader sense in the political arena, where progress has been disappointing in reaching a consensus that will end the gridlock preventing an effective and coordinated attack on Hawai'i's ice epidemic.

Law enforcement authorities, backed by the Lingle administration, favor tougher criminal sanctions to reduce the supply of ice, while Democrats in the Legislature want to expand rehabilitation opportunities for the addicted to reduce the demand for drugs.

Both sides held much-ballyhooed summits before the last Legislature that they promised would result in dramatically increased efforts to lessen the devastating impact of crystal methamphetamine abuse in our community.

Unfortunately, they chose political finger-pointing over cooperation, and there has been virtually no progress.

The Lingle administration came up with legislation to give law enforcement more tools to battle drug criminals, while the Legislature's package of bills focused on social services to help drug users kick their habit.

The Legislature passed few of the administration's crime-fighting measures, and Lingle has responded by sitting on the money to pay for the Democrats' social services.

It's baffling why they can't recognize that both approaches are important pieces of the same puzzle and reach a public-spirited compromise that incorporates elements of each.

Until the pig-headed political posturing stops, tragic cases like Tayshea and Treyson Aiwohi's are only going to become more common.

David Shapiro can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net.