Posted on: Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Officer's ice advice is educate early
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
After almost three decades waging the war on drugs, the last half focused on crystal methamphetamine, Commander Rey Nejo believes the only way to stop the drug's destructive cycle from spreading is to educate, early and often.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser "I'm 18 years into this curve and I am still educating myself," said Nejo. "We talked about coke, we talked about weed, we talked about liquor (when he first started as a narcotics officer), but we didn't have any (crystal methamphetamine) prevention for the population at large. We didn't understand as law enforcement officers, and we failed with education."
Nejo spoke yesterday to a group of community members involved in the state's war on "ice," sponsored by the U.S. Attorney. A prosecutor from the Big Island, local filmmaker Edgy Lee, and Bill Wood, a University of Hawai'i sociologist were among those in attendance.
The idea is to get the community re-energized about the seriousness of the state's ice epidemic, while stressing the importance of informing kids at a young age about the dangers of the drug.
Nejo spoke of the violence caused by the drug and told several graphic tales about encounters with ice addicts.
The first time Nejo ran into an ice addict gone wild, he was a patrol officer responding to a domestic disturbance call in Arizona.
He and two other officers arrived on the scene to find a man in a driveway swinging his 9-month-old daughter around like a baseball bat.
As Nejo and the two officers approached the man, he swung the baby against the wall, shattering her skull and spilling her brains on the pavement.
Nejo delivers his message with the ease of a polished speaker. But a few times during his presentation, he choked up, at one point apologizing to the crowd.
"Hawai'i is basically the pioneer, the guinea pig, when it comes to the effects of crystal meth," said U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo.
"We're in the season of a fight," said Billy Duhay, a Christian author currently writing a 12-step recovery book. "To get into a season of a breakthrough, we need more information."
Nejo read a poem to the audience written by a 16-year-old girl who lost her family, her child, and was eventually incarcerated because of her ice use.
He then gave a copy of the poem to Lee, and asked that it be read to local kids.
"I wish we could get him to talk to kids in the schools and all over the state," said Wood. "This man is an educator of the first order."
Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.
A former police narcotics officer, Nejo commands a Native American police unit on a reservation in Southern California. He has seen the effects of crystal methamphetamine and knows first-hand the devastating effect it has on communities, families, and the people it traps with addiction.
Rey Nejo, a Native American drug law enforcement officer, spoke to community leaders and law enforcement on Oahu about the effects of "ice" on his community of Hopi Indians in Arizona.
