Musings: Bogus "News"

It was chilly with a few drops of blowing rain when Koko and I set out for our walk under the light of a bright half moon, with the Big Dipper and Orion’s belt clearly visible. They were the first stars I’ve seen in a while.

Although we haven’t seen any reports or evidence of “ice houses” here on Kauai, that didn’t stop the drug hysteria machine from pumping out a report on that topic in today’s Garden Island.

The article starts with: “An increasing number of rental properties on-island doubling as methamphetamine labs prompted U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo yesterday to explain how to get such tenants evicted and arrested.”

But it never does present even one instance of that happening on Kauai, or provide one shred of evidence to back up that assertion.

In fact, the article states: “Though Kubo said law enforcement has been putting a ‘stranglehold’ on the trafficking of methamphetamine, or “ice,” he said recent Hawai‘i tragedies demonstrate there is still a strong need to put an end to the drug.”

Uh duh, we all know we don’t want ice around, but why a public meeting and front-page story on a non-existent problem when there are plenty of real life ice stories to tell?

Doesn’t Kubo have anything better to do?

Or perhaps he likes to stoke a sense of alarm as it keeps money flowing to the never-ending war on drugs, which is the main reason why Hawaii's prisons are so full that now the state is planning to build tent cities on all the islands to house inmates.

I'd rather see inmates housed in tents here than shipped to mainland prisons, which is a cruel and unusual punishment.

But I'd much prefer to see us getting serious about the social and economic issues that are at the heart of the drug problem in Hawaii.

And then there's the persistent lack of treatment options and reintegration programs —including some that Gov. Lingle has refused to release funds for — that lead to so many guys going right back to jail after they get out.

It's so much easier to sound the alarm, even if it's false, than to put out the fire.