Pubdate: Wed, 25 Jun 2003
Source: Garden Island (HI)
Contact:
http://www.kauaiworld.com/kauai/letterstoeditor.nsf/webletter?openform
Copyright: 2003 Kauai Publishing Co.
Website: http://kauaiworld.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/964
Note: To read about the "ice epidemic" in Hawaii, go to
http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Hawaii

DEA: WE CAN'T SOLVE ALL OF KAUA'I'S DRUG PROBLEMS

NUKOLI'I -- Don't expect a federal Drug Enforcement Administration presence
on the island to immediately work to stem the flow of illegal drugs to and
around the island, a DEA agent said.

While federal, state and county elected officials are working hard to get
full-time DEA agents assigned to work on Kaua'i's drug problems, their
presence alone won't be a panacea, said Christopher G. Tolley, demand
reduction coordinator and public information officer for the U.S. Department
of Justice DEA office in Honolulu.

"By no means can we come in here and cure things for you," he said at the
annual meeting of the Hawaii State Association of Counties at the Radisson
Kauai Beach Resort here Tuesday morning.

A DEA presence on the island would not replace county and state law
enforcement, but rather work with local authorities to attack drug dealers
using federal laws which are stricter than state or county ordinances, he
said.

"The drug dealers really don't fear being arrested" under lax state or
county laws, but are afraid of federal laws with mandatory jail time and
established minimum sentences, said Tolley. 

"They want to establish a presence here," he said of the DEA and elected
officials.

Kaua'i and the other counties already have deputized DEA Drug agents
fighting the war on drugs, he added.

Working together, they try to bring to justice "the big guys," or those
distributors selling drugs to dealers, he said.

Where his role in demand reduction is concerned, Tolley goes into the
schools and educates young ones in his non-enforcement role. 

"We try to stop drug use before it happens," he said.
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