By Donald Topping
Ice. Batu. Meth. Crystal. Whatever the name, the smokable form of crystal methamphetamine has reportedly reached epidemic proportions in our state, with increasing use among our youth. Authorities in the fields of drug treatment, prevention and law enforcement are desperately searching for ways to deal with the problem. Underlying this situation are two nagging questions: Why is the reputed Ice epidemic found only in Hawai`i? Is this epidemic one of our own creation?
To put the matter more bluntly: Did the successful suppression of marijuana through Operations "Green Harvest" and "Wipeout" pave the way for the Ice epidemic, as former Attorney General Warren Price predicted in his 1989 "Survey of Hawaii's War on Drugs"? To quote Mr. Price: "The destruction of the [marijuana] industry ...would create another problem: there would simply be a shift to other competitively priced drugs."
Aside from public statements by Speaker Joe Souki and Big Island Police Chief Wayne Carvalho, numerous letters and an editorial in the Honolulu Advertiser (10/3/95), the pakalolo-Ice connection is rarely mentioned, and never seriously discussed in official circles. The supporters of the costly, multi-agency marijuana eradication program deny any correlation between their successes and the increased use of Ice despite compelling evidence to the contrary.
Drug substitution is as old as drug use itself. When the drug of choice is eliminated, or is priced out of range, drug users shift to what is available and affordable. Usually the shift is from a less harmful to a more harmful substance. This pattern is seen over and over as a result of drug prohibition. Suppress one drug and another pops up to take its place.
An example from Prohibition days is given by Yale law professor Steven Duke, who claims that "in the first decade of the twentieth century, states that prohibited consumption, manufacture or sale of alcohol saw morphine sales increase 150 percent." Thirteen years of total alcohol prohibition from 1920 to 1933, while not eliminating alcohol use, triggered a dramatic shift in consumption from wine and beer to hard liquor, which contained far more alcohol by volume, and was thus easier for bootleggers to transport and market. Prohibition also compelled many habituated drinkers to drink various types of illegal "rotgut," which in many cases led to blindness, paralysis and death.
Other examples are provided in separate studies by Fort and Westermeyer who describe how the suppression of opium in Hong Kong and Thailand in the early 1960s triggered a dramatic shift from smoking opium to injecting heroin, with disastrous consequences. The reason is that opium is bulky, pungent and perishable, while heroin is easily packaged, almost odorlesss, and can be stored for long periods. The unintended consequence of opium prohibition was increased addiction and the array of diseases associated with sharing needles, including ultimately the deadly HIV.
In the 1980s the nation saw a frightening shift from the use of powder cocaine to crack coinciding with the increased efforts against cocaine trafficking. Drug merchants responded by converting powder to a form that could be packaged and distributed in more economical, clandestine and convenient ways.
Ansley Hamid has documented in numerous published studies the reluctant shift from ganja (marijuana) to crack cocaine by the Rastafarian Jamaicans in New York, resulting in a shift from community cohesion and stability to one of crime, distrust and social disintegration. According to Hamid's research, this changing pattern was the direct result of the successful eradication and interdiction efforts against marijuana.
The evidence for drug substitution in the studies cited above is pretty convincing. Why should Hawai`i be any different? In the face of the available evidence, the correlation between the decline of "paka" and the appearance of the new drug "ice" is hard to deny. A 1993 publication of the National Institute of Justice states: "A shortage of pakkalo [sic] around 1985 may have contributed to the smoking of batu."
Is it coincidental that Ice began to appear as a problem in Honolulu around 1987, the year that Operation Green Harvest succeeded in doubling its take over the previous year, thereby creating a scarcity of marijuana and a dramatic increase in price? Did this encourage anyone to shift from smoking marijuana to smoking Ice? Did the fact that they are both smokable drugs facilitate the transition?
This question was answered many times over during a research project in Honolulu in which extensive interviews were conducted with 150 Ice users between 1992 and 1994. Time and again, when asked why they started smoking Ice the response was "the paka was no longer there," or words to that effect.
Some might dismiss this response as a lame excuse. But when it is repeated time after time, it begins to sound more convincing. History demonstrates that when a person's drug of choice is not available they don't quit using. They simply shift to what is available.
Operation Green Harvest has proved highly successful. Hawai`i's marijuana prices are the highest in the world. Hawai`i, alone among the fifty states, is experiencing the Ice epidemic. What conclusions can we draw from this? Even though we may never know the answer for sure, the evidence strongly suggests that the all out assault against the weed is at least partly responsible for the epidemic we are now facing.
Our policy makers need to ask some basic questions. Did Ice become the substitute drug when "the paka was no longer there?" Is Ice a more harmful drug than marijuana? (Ask any beat cop, emergency room physician, treatment provider or parent.) Would we rather deal with dopey pot smokers or deranged "pipers" strung out on Ice? Have we really created our own worst drug nightmare through eradicating marijuana? And if so, what are we prepared to do about it?
If lightening up on our hopeless determination to eradicate marijuana would lessen the intensity and severity of the Ice epidemic, are we willing to take that step? Or, are we determined to keep on doing what we've been doing, which includes ducking the real questions?
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