Drug Abuse

Drug abuse is a scourge on our community. Like most families in Hawaii, I have lost friends and family members to the abuse of alcohol and drugs.

I believe that we ought to treat drug abuse as a public health issue and provide treatment to fight addiction, while punishing those who profit from the illegal trade. I will continue to support and initiate legislation to fund drug prevention and treatment programs. I support the reform of mandatory minimum sentence rules that condemn many nonviolent drug offenders to long prison sentences without providing them access to avenues for rehabilitation and treatment programs.

House arrest and electronic monitoring combined with mandatory treatment and testing is a far more cost-effective and productive manner to deal with nonviolent drug offenders. This is a view supported by reputable national research and is far more consistent with the Obama administration’s approach to dealing with these wrenching human challenges nationwide.