Two weeks ago on Kauai, police arrested two men in what has been called the largest crystal methamphetamine bust on the island, ever.

More than seven pounds of the drug was found, worth $1.6 million. Fifteen years ago that story would have dominated headlines for days. State lawmakers would have taken it and run with it like a big old flag to get attention for themselves and their superhero Hawaii-saving efforts. There would be sign-waving demonstrations and calls to radio stations and lots of hand-wringing and finger-pointing in online comments and letters to the editor.

The reaction in 2016?

Shrug.

While some on Kauai are turning themselves inside out with rage and fear that the “chemical companies” are poisoning the keiki, ruining the community and raining down death on all living things, crystal meth is a very real poison that causes severe and measurable harm to the community, and nobody seems to care very much.

This recent bust wasn’t just a bunch of hapless druggies trading negligible amounts among their druggie friends. Kauai Police Chief Darryl Perry called it a “drug trafficking organization.”

Kauai cops didn’t even get a moment of, “Hey, nice job.” Nobody went out to interview neighbors. No tourists looked worriedly at their no-refund plane tickets and wondered whether they’d be safe on the island.

Crystal meth has been accepted as part of our society. We’ve all scooted over and made room for it, almost willfully ignoring it’s there until someone steals our car or breaks into our house. So much of what plagues our communities is tied to crystal meth, yet we’ve become numb to its effects. We think of meth use like it’s an unhealthy habit akin to drinking too much soda or eating fried food rather than the insanity-inducing, violence-provoking, crime-, poverty- and depravity-causing evil that it is.

There’s not much political juice in waging losing wars against a substance that is so addictive to users and so intractable.

We talk about homelessness like it’s a completely separate issue, unrelated to crystal meth addiction and the listless legions of zombies it creates. We worry about dengue more than the bodies of people shot in drug transactions and left in the scrub brush. People are freaked out by unsubstantiated stories of birth defects supposedly caused by pesticides but have nothing to say about the hundreds of babies born in Hawaii who test positive for prenatal exposure to crystal meth.

Ten or 15 years ago, almost every significant societal problem could be connected to meth use, and maybe that was seeing ghosts and over-reaching, but now it’s like we’ve forgotten about the devil that roams just outside the door. When stories come out about new illegal drugs on the market, like the psychotic-rage-causing flakka, it makes crystal meth seem quaint by comparison.

It isn’t. It’s poison. It’s still here. We didn’t win the war on “ice.” We just sort of got tired of fighting.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.