"Police: Meth is growing on Maui"
Economy driving many to sell, use, transport narcotics, experts say
May 25, 2009
WAILUKU - Crystal methamphetamine and other narcotics are showing signs of a resurgence on Maui, due to the dismal economy, according to a Maui Police Department vice officer.
As people find themselves unemployed and desperate, they increasingly turn to the drug trade to try to make money, said police officer Ken Doyle. Others start using drugs like meth to stay awake while they work multiple jobs to support their children. And addicts of all ages often say they started using drugs to cope with a dysfunctional or broken family life, he said...
"If the economy doesn't get better, (the drug problem) is going to get worse," Doyle said.
The Maui police had "intel" that drug traffickers were using the Hawaii Superferry to transport meth from Honolulu to Maui, before the ferry service shut down, he added. That presented an especially difficult channel to block, because Maui police didn't have jurisdiction over activities on the high seas, he said.
Meth is rarely manufactured in Hawaii but is usually smuggled into the islands from "superlabs" on the Mainland and in Mexico, said federal Drug Enforcement Agency investigator Linda Martin...
A big part of the credit goes to a law passed several years ago requiring drugs that contain pseudoephedrine, like Sudafed, to be taken off store shelves and distributed by pharmacists, with buyers required to show identification. The chemical is a critical ingredient in meth, and drug labs had been sending runners to buy up whole shelfloads of the congestion medicine before its sale was restricted, she said...
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This was an interesting letter to the editor on this subject by Jeffrey Parker:
Aloha,
I have to comment on the "big revelation" in the Maui News last week that the Superferry was being used to transport meth to the outer islands. On Sept. 26, 2006, I was a panelist in a "Superferry People's Meeting" held at the State Capitol. It was a pretty formal event, held in the Conference Room at the Capitol, facilitated by Kauai Rep. Mina Morita and some other legislators. There were several excellent panelists with expertise in various fields voicing their concerns about lack of an EIS for the Superferry project. The Oahu Media had all been invited and showed up, setting up their cameras and microphones, etc.
One of the most riveting presentations was given by Panelist K.C. Lum, the recently-retired Police Chief of Kauai. He was extremely concerned that the Superferry would likely export Oahu-based crime to the outer islands and listed many different ways the Superferry could be used by criminals. This ranged from the transport of drugs and stolen goods to the movement of firearms between islands. For example, he theorized that thieves could ship their vans over in the morning, burglarize people's homes while the owners were at work, and return to Oahu that evening or the next morning. And of course we now know that there were no dockside "inspections" that would have prevented that.
He specifically was most worried about the movement of "ice" throughout the State, and gave a lengthy description of the "ice" industry in Hawaii. That industry is based on Oahu, with both a direct pipeline to California and the existence of Oahu-based illicit laboratories. He detailed the challenges facing the police, given that it is relatively easy to intercept drug-runners at the Airport, but that it would be impossible to dismantle and search all the automobiles traveling on the Superferry.
Unfortunately, Mr. Lum's information and concerns were never made available to the public. Why? Because the Oahu Media, after setting up their cameras and equipment, hastily packed up and left after only 5 minutes of the People's Meeting.
No big revelation here; but the Hawaii print, radio, and television media, more than any other factors, are responsible for the entire Superferry Fiasco. Have you noticed that as the State gets closer and closer to fiscal collapse, no one in the Media talks about the upwards of $60 Million dollars unnecessarily squandered by Lingle and her cronies?
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Parker
Haiku, Maui
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