The ice epidemic has touched tens of thousands of lives in Hawaiʻi. It has an impact on our families, our children, our schools, our crime rate, our prisons, our businesses. I learned that our Hawaiian community has never faced a problem quite like this. There are children growing up with crystal methamphetamine in the local neighborhood, in the house and in the family. Ice is a wickedly addictive and widely available drug; it steals control of people's minds and lives regardless of their socioeconomic status. Ice use has become such a widespread problem that some lawmakers from the governor to legislators and City Council members routinely refer to it as "the ice epidemic" and have put it at the top of the political agenda. A growing number of people have been victims of car thefts, break-ins, and even murder that police often attribute to ice users looking for quick cash to buy more. Recently, normal citizens, who have watched ice invade their neighborhoods and destroy lives, have stood on roadways to wave signs in protest. "We've had an ice problem since the 1980s, and the rest of the country has only had it for a few years," said Larry Williams, director of The Salvation Army's Addiction Treatment Services. Hawaiʻi has been at the head of meth use in the country, Williams said, but it has suffered when it comes to getting federal help. “For years, the federal government has focused on marijuana eradication in Hawaiʻi and ignored the meth problem,” he said. How can they do that? I mean, yes, pakalolo is a drug also but I honestly don’t think that it has more potential than ice does to ruin lives. I wasn’t even aware of this widespread ice problem in Hawaiʻi. I guess I could say I’m fortunate… what about the kids that live in homes where ice is used every day? How do we help them and what can we do as community members? Well, I could find some organizations and events that are trying to help get ice out of Hawaiʻi and her homes. The links to these sites can be found in my references. I really do hope that this crisis will be brought to an end in the very near future. Hawaiians don’t need more things coming into the homes and stealing our lives. I long for the day that Hawaiʻi will be rid of all those nasty vile poisons that were brought here by foreigners and will go back to how it was in the old days when there were no drugs that could tear a family, and even a community, apart.
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