EDITORIAL
Hawai'i can't let up in the war on 'ice'

Now is not the time to ease up in the battle against crystal methamphetamine in Hawai'i. Island residents have seen too often how "ice" has torn families apart, increased crime and taken so many lives.

Still, there are recent reports the state task force on ice could be eliminated if the Bush administration's proposed budget cuts are approved.

Let's hope Hawai'i's delegation can work both sides of the aisle to keep that from happening.

The Bush federal budget proposal, according to local law enforcement, probably would kill the six-year-old narcotics intelligence network known as the Hawai'i High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), a leading combatant in the war on "ice."

Special agents have praised the network for its support in recent operations that culminated in the conviction of Marvin Postadan on federal conspiracy charges. Postadan, who was sentenced to more than 16 years in prison, led a Big Island drug-distribution organization that brought crystal methamphetamine and cocaine from California into Hawai'i.

More broadly, this partnership of federal, state and county law-enforcement agencies contributed to a three-year record in methamphetamine arrests. HIDTA director Larry Burnett credited its catalog of career drug offenders, information that's shared across the network, as a major reason for increased arrests.

He also thinks the proposed cuts — slashing a $226 million national operation to $100 million — would cripple the Hawai'i program, the newest and smallest among the nation's 28 anti-trafficking coalitions.

Clearly the war on drugs should be bipartisan. And congressional representatives in "red states" such as Tennessee, Iowa and Missouri — each with its own success story to tell — should work with our delegation to dissuade the president from allowing these cuts to hamper Hawai'i's fight against ice.