Briefly describe the role of the Hawaii High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) and its top priorities.

HIDTA is a grant-funded program of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Executive Office of the President. The Hawaii HIDTA supports drug interdiction and demand-reduction strategies by developing collaborative federal, state and local enforcement task forces and prevention programs throughout Hawaii, including the City and County of Honolulu and Hawaii, Maui and Kauai counties. With HIDTA funding, resources, analytical support and training, the HIDTA program serves as a force-multiplier in statewide, interstate and international narcotic interdiction operations.

Hawaii HIDTA develops and broadcasts drug abuse media messaging to educate the community on Hawaii’s drug threats, in particular crystal methamphetamine and fentanyl. Our partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the state Department of Health (known as the HIDTA Overdose Response Strategy) has led to an educational platform to perform live and virtual drug education training to any audience in Hawaii. This HIDTA/CDC platform includes NARCAN (naloxone) distribution and application training.

How are potentially lethal drugs like fentanyl and xylazine getting into Hawaii?

Except for domestically produced marijuana, drugs imported into Hawaii begin their journey by being manufactured by violent drug cartels in Mexico; smuggled across the southwest border; and primarily air-flown to Hawaii in parcels (FedEx, UPS, U.S. Postal Service) or by air passenger carrier. Mainland drug traffickers also ship these Mexican cartel-manufactured drugs to Hawaii by marine cargo services.

Does law enforcement anticipate the use of fentanyl and similar drugs expanding or even competing with crystal methamphetamine, the leading illegal drug in Hawaii?

At this point, I believe crystal methamphetamine will remain as Hawaii’s greatest drug threat for quite some time, and the rising popularity of fentanyl in Hawaii HIDTA will not lessen the devastating impact of meth among our Hawaiian islands. The spread of meth began in Hawaii, and other states also consider meth to be their greatest drug threat. The Mexican cartels are acutely aware of the popularity of meth in the U.S., and like any business, they maximize their profits to the fullest potential because meth and fentanyl are synthetic drugs that can be cheaply made and distributed.

How can people determine if what they are consuming contains dangerous doses of fentanyl? Should inexpensive test strips or other easy-to-use methods be more readily available in Hawaii, such as proposed in Senate Bill 671?

I remain neutral on the availability of fentanyl test strips, primarily because I am concerned about the accuracy of the test strips used publicly. Also, I consider any illicit drug product to be possibly tainted with fentanyl these days.

Would it be dangerous to legalize recreational marijuana in Hawaii? Why or why not?

Here are excerpts from what I said about marijuana in a speech this year: No PowerPoint, graphs or numbers from me today, except for one — a 40% THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) concentrate in today’s marijuana.

Legalization of marijuana opens the gate for illegal marijuana production, and there will be a price tag.

The environmental price tag is the consequence of chemicals, in the form of fertilizer and pesticides, along with nonbiodegradable materials and plastics (contaminating) our land, or indigenous forests, our coral and our water sources.

I know this land and this ocean as a fisherman, diver, hunter, surfer and former police officer. There is no place on Earth more beautiful and precious than our Hawaii islands.

The social price tag will be from the consequences of marijuana addiction and abuse. There is now compelling evidence of a correlation between marijuana and mental illness, and our youth are most at risk during their development stages. Hospital emergency rooms are admitting more marijuana overdose patients. For every dollar earned through taxation of legal marijuana, there is an estimated $4 social price tag.

Marijuana can no longer be considered a mellow drug or friendly drug. High-potency marijuana is associated to violent behavior. I witnessed this firsthand as the chair of the Hawaii Law Enforcement Officer Independent Review Board and reviewed deadly-force cases in Hawaii. Many of those who died from police deadly force had THC in their systems.

When I was police chief for the Maui Police Department, I joined the chiefs from the Kauai and Hawaii County police departments and met with the state Senate president, who told us the legalization of marijuana was the will of the people. But sometimes it is necessary for the law to protect the people from harm, as when the Supreme Court ruled that DUI roadblocks were constitutional and necessary to curtail the nation’s traffic deaths, many of which were alcohol-related.

We believe the pendulum to legalize marijuana has stalled monetarily, as it did when the voters of North and South Dakota said no to legalized marijuana this past November. We ask you to help us protect our Hawaii.

Bonus question

How can NARCAN nasal spray improve drug-use treatment in Hawaii, now that it will be available over the counter?

It can’t hurt, but the cost of a NARCAN kit with two 4-milliliter applications is currently $75. I encourage parents, teachers, business owners and just about anyone to seek free NARCAN distribution in our communities. It’s there.

THE BIO FILE

>> Current position: Executive Director, Hawaii High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA)

>> Previous employment: Maui Police Department from 1983 to 2014. Chief of Police from 2009 to 2014. Chair of the Law Enforcement Officer Independent Review Board (2021).

>> Personal background: Born in greater Los Angeles. Bachelor’s degree from California State University, Northridge. FBI National Academy Graduate. I love to swim for exercise.

>> One more thing: For more information about Hawaii HIDTA, send an email to Info@hi-hidta.org.