ADVOCATE TOUTS AGGRESSIVE TREATMENTS FOR 'ICE'

Dismissing Students With Drugs From School Is Wrong, He Says

WAILUKU -- The executive director of a substance abuse rehabilitation center
on Maui has criticized a state Department of Education practice allowing
school administrators to dismiss students caught possessing illegal drugs.

"That's kind of counterproductive, in my view," said Jud Cunningham,
executive director of Aloha House Inc.

Cunningham made the comments yesterday to a Joint House-Senate Committee on
Ice and Drug Abatement visiting Maui as part of its statewide effort to
gather information about drugs, including crystal methamphetamine, or "ice,"
for the 2004 Legislature.

The committee toured the 32-bed Aloha House, a nonprofit group that treats
substance abusers, and also held a public hearing last night attended by
more than 70 people in the Maui County Council chambers.

Cunningham told the committee that students should be placed in a drug-abuse
program in the public schools.

He also proposed placing a drug-abuse counselor at each intermediate school,
in addition to high schools.

He said individuals in treatment should be provided opportunities to
reconnect with their cultural heritage as a way to strengthen their recovery
outcome.

State House Judiciary Chairman Eric Hamakawa (D, Hilo-Glenwood) said
committee members will be reviewing the testimonies and also statistics
about drug use, including ice.

Maui Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto, who heads the Maui Drug Court, said he
believes about 80 percent of the 750 new felonies occurring in the county
each year are committed by people using ice and other drugs.

Aloha House officials said ice has created additional problems in drug
treatment.

An ice user takes longer to undergo detoxification, about three to four
weeks, compared with a week for users of other drugs, officials said.

Frank Siminski, an Aloha House case manager, said a couple of ice users, one
19 and another 22, will never be the same because of mental problems,
including schizophrenia.

Aloha House officials said they have a waiting list of applicants but are
unable to accommodate them because of a lack of staff.

Cunningham said the state Health Department's "integrated case management"
program that treats those in the criminal justice system needs more funding.

He said the original request was for $4.4 million, but the amount was cut to
$2.2 million.