What is the best way to reduce Molokai’s drug problems?

There are many chances of relapse after a patient takes treatment from any drug rehab center. When it occurs there is a need to give special treatment to the patient. This treatment is termed as relapse prevention treatment and is provided by most of the drug rehab centers.
http://www.drugrehabscenters.com/

Substance abuse (‘drug abuse’ in common slang) is simply bad. It’s bad for an individual, bad for the family, and bad for the entire community. In fact there are no ‘good’ things about abuse of substances, whether illegal (meth, crank, crack, ice, heroin, etc) or legal (prescription drugs, tobacco, alcohol, etc.).

Contrary to what many youths (and immature adults) think, substance abuse of any kind is about as far from being ‘cool’, hip, or desirable as anything can be. In reality, use or abuse of substances actually marks the user as a genuine loser, a person of poor self-respect, and one with little social awareness beyond their own selfish need for quick gratification. What is especially sad about substance abuse is that it almost always starts out as a casual ‘experiment’, but invariably progresses to a full-blown state of complete addiction and full dependency. Sadder still is the fact that the darker, more deadly effects of substance abuse are not apparent until well after drugs have become a permanent part of one’s life. The impact of chronic substance abuse on health is severe and premature death by either disease or one of the other deadly side-effects is almost guaranteed. To say that substance abuse is a cruel monster that eats people alive is perhaps a colorfully allegorical statement that strains the imagination, but the grim reality is undeniable: it is a very real monster and it wholly consumes not just individuals but entire communities.

People who regularly abuse drugs lose (among many other things) their ability to understand that all people share this world together...that like it or not we must all care for one another and maintain respect and regard for one another if we are all to survive.

Very recently an incident occurred on the mainland that sadly demonstrates how cruel life can be when one exists within the frequently violent and ever destructive world of substance abuse. In January, a homeless, drug-addicted 49 year old woman was set upon in an argument over a boyfriend’s loan of a hundred dollars, kidnapped, and taken to a nearby sports stadium where her two female assailants doused her with gasoline and set her afire. She died, it goes without saying, a most horrible death at the hands of two other drug-addicted women

Leslie “Jill” May, the victim, began life as an abused child. At the age of sixteen, after having been raped and impregnated by her substance-abusing father, she ran away to San Francisco in 1976. Possessed of intelligence, a sparkling personality, and the exceptional good looks of a runway model, she was able to make a living as a high-class prostitute for a number of years. Until, that is, she started doing cocaine and eventually became hopelessly addicted to crack, crank, and other street drugs. Over the years, as result, she lost her teeth, her beauty, her health, and sank into the homeless despair of a chronic street person. By 2006, 30 years after her arrival in the San Francisco Bay Area, she was singled out by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s ‘substance abuse outreach team’ to be included in a small number of special focus ‘hardcore’ street addicts who would receive exceptional assistance to help them break out of their hopeless condition.

As a result of this good fortune, she had just received permanent housing and was starting to respond to aggressive treatment in a promising manner, according to those who worked with her. Then the argument occurred with two other women over a small amount of money owed by her boyfriend to one of them for some drugs.

As a relatively small, delicate individual—the result of her 30 years of suffering from substance abuse—she was easily taken behind a dumpster, striped of her clothing, and severely beaten by her two female assailants who then left her for dead. Having barely survived the violent attack, she reported the assault to police, and the next day her two assailants returned, kidnapped her and took her to the football stadium parking lot. Pulling out two cans of gasoline, they poured the contents over her and threw a cigarette at her.

The two woman who burned her alive in such a horrible manner were fortunately apprehended and now face trial, but any such legal proceedings will of course do her no good at all, in the wake of her brutal murder.

I mention this incident here because it is a fairly good (and especially heart-breaking) example of the extremes of behavior that routinely result from abuse of substances. Molokai is fortunate to have been spared such egregious incidents as this, but don’t think for a minute that this could not happen here or anywhere that illegal substances are being sold for private use. Hopefully it can serve as a graphic reminder of the sort of gratuitous violence that is commonly found in and among drug users. The less graphically shocking effects of drug use (break-ups in the home, disruption of family life, serious health problems, community problems, etc.) are far more common, but no less impactful on the lives of those who live with or interact with substance abusers.

To say, therefore, that substance abuse is bad is more than just the inane repeating of an empty phrase. It is a reality that can kill you, or others around you, and that...as this example disturbingly illustrates...often does.

Think to reflect for a moment, if you will, that this unfortunate 49 year old woman, Leslie May, was once herself someone’s beloved keiki. She was once a potentially wonderful, valuable person who had hopes, dreams, and who was a mother herself. Now her life is simply another senseless tragic statistic that could have been prevented if more people had taken more seriously the threat that substance abuse poses to otherwise good people and their communities. Molokai may still root out this evil before such extreme events occur here, but it will not be easy, and it will take determination; above all, it will take a common commitment by everyone on the island to get drugs off the island!

Mahalo, Kalikiano

Dealing with substance abuse on Molokai is a very, very difficult challenge for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that so many families here are intermarried, making the chances of your having relatives involved in substance abuse very likely. As may be imagined, no one likes the thought of possibly jeopardising family members who are engaged in technically illegal acts; this is especially true on Molokai, where blood ties are very strong and 'ohana loyalty issues are quite contentious.

What is so sad to me is that so much about the mainland pop-culture that is undesirable is so highly regarded by many on the island (who are yet mature in their thoughts and regards). Mainland pop-culture is full of violence, disrespect for others, selfish self-gratification, racial prejudice, and narrow-mindedness. Pop culture music especially is based almost entirely on themes of gang violence, abuse of women, and disrespect for others. All of these influences are so far removed from traditional Molokai 'ohana values that it is hard to understand how they can take root so deeply on the island, among its young.

Substance abuse--most particularly the abuse of alcohol and methamphetamines--has great appeal for adolescents, juveniles, and adults who have not yet fully matured. Much of this appeal, it is sad to say, stems from a lack of responsibility by parents to address these dangers in a relentlessly strong and consistant manner. In the old culture of many decades ago, fathers and mothers recognised that as the heads of their family, it was their most important task to provide proper guidance for their children as they grew up. Today, this task is made infinitely harder by the intrusive nature of technology (music, internet, videos, etc.) and the 'polluting' nature of the pop-culture influences they introduce to the community. Instead of helping address these issues vigorously, the schools themselves also fail to help the parents adequately in this task and as a result, no serious effort is yet being made to bring children and juveniles to understand what a serious threat anti-social pop-culture is to their impressionable, young and not yet fully mature minds.

In my opinion, part of what is needed to turn around the present tidal wave of substance abuse (and the violent disrespect for the rights and dignity of others it typically engenders) is a combination of radically strengthened educational efforts, strong and unified local support among families, and greater assistance from the State of Hawaii to help provide the financial wherewithall to establish this unified front of broad-based community resistance. Regrettably, this also requires a strong dose of 'tough love' administered by parents and relatives, and the recognition that while family ties are greatly important, a severely disfunctional family is hardly worth sustaining. [I understand that criticising the family is usually regarded as being almost unthinkable on Molokai, but when the danger is so grave, as it is in this case, whatever measures that are necessary must be resorted to to protect one's loved ones!

A year or two ago the island was made indignant by the matter of computer anti-virus software magnate John McAffee's sale of his substantial properties here. Wouldn't it have been wonderful if instead of donating a few computers to the schools after he had first arrived on the island, Mr. McAfee had done something on the order of what Microsoft's Bill Gates and his wife did in donating a sizeable endowment to a special foundation intended to address social problems? If Mr. McAfee had truly recognised the extraordinary community and family qualities that Moloklai has traditionally prized (and that it stands to lose if the substance abuse issue is not reversed without further delay), he might have considered doing something along these lines for the people of Molokai. It is a great pity that his interest in the island turned out to be merely that of a tourist (albeit an unusually wealthy one), looking for a place to luxuriate in isolation, apart from the lifeblood of the community.

It is still not too late to reverse the terrible threat that substance abuse poses to the island of Molokai, but if a strong and unified plan of island-wide action is not soon taken, the situation will only become progressively worse in short order. The challenge is very real and time is very short! Who among you will rise to this challenge and stand strongly in a unified effort to eradicate the cancerous growth that substance abuse poses now?

"Ua mau ke ea o ka aina I ka pono!"

Mahalo nui loa, Kalikiano

Assessing the extent of the Drug problem
If everyone would take a minute and look around at who close to you is doing drugs, you may find that there are many if you live on Molokai. If you have a family member that is on drugs there is not much you can do to prevent them from doing drugs. Those of you in this situation know what I am talking about. The only way we would be able to prevent it is to stop it before it happens. Put your children into extra currecular activities like basketball, Arts, Karate, . Keep your children active. Keep them occupied. Be involved in your childrens lives. I notice that the people on drugs are getting younger. imagine if it got into our highschool. (If it didnt already)

Only when the extent and nature of the drug problem on Molokai has been thoroughly assessed will it be possible to explore ways to eradicate the problem. We know drugs are in Molokai homes damaging families, in the workplace causing safety isssues and productivity loss, and are readily available on our streets and school campuses. Drug education will certainly be helpful, as will harsher penalties for those actually dealing. However, I suspect that most of the damage is done by the simple act of using. To alleviate this, we need treatment programs, which may be anything from counseling and family support, through full residential substance abuse treatment facilities, AND this all needs to be available on Molokai. Those attempting to provide this service now are overworked and undersupported. Only when we know and understand the full problem can we concentrate on the appropriate remedies.