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Volu me 105 Issue 36
“Not Even Once” meth campaign director speaks at UH LYNN NAK AGAWA News Editor
Last Wednesday, Cindy Adams, executive director of the Hawai‘i Meth Project addressed students at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa for the fi rst time since the project’s inception. Adams presented information on crystal methamphetamine, also known as ice, and statistics on how students perceived the dangers and risks of the drug before and after the launch of the project. Adams asked the group of about 90 students, primarily from a sociology class on deviant behavior, “How many of you have seen or heard any of our ads from the beginning of last year and through this year?” Nearly every hand in the room went up. “Now I’m going to ask an totally different question. How many of you have ever seen crystal meth? How many of you have ever used meth? How many of you know somebody who has been affected by this drug, either a friend or family member?” Fewer hands were raised but students still responded in the affirmative to the questions, signaling the prevalence of the drug in Hawai‘i.
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In addition to thier hard hitting media campaign, the Hawaii Meth Project also gives seminars in colleges and high schools across the state. Adams said that before the project was launched in June 2009, she had the opportunity to speak with Judge Michael Broderick of the First Circuit Family Court on O‘ahu. Broderick, who
Grunting sounds pose threat to opponents PAIGE L. JINBO Staff Writer
Tennis players are notorious for it; while watching a tennis match it’s this sound that vibrates off the court. It’s not the squeaking of those white-soled shoes as
tennis players book it from left to right on their half of the court — although that is a trademark sound of a tennis match — , it’s the noise exerted exhibiting the sheer force of their actions: a grunt. It’s a common sound uttered by most tennis players. While it may simply be a rever-
has seen many cases of crystal methamphetamine use, has called the drug “the walk-away drug.” “It’s the only drug where people will walk away from everything that’s important in their
lives in order to sustain their drug habit. Moms will walk away from their children, people walk away from the jobs, their friends, and their families,” said Adams of Broderick’s observations.
beration originating at the throat, a recent study has shown that this grunting poses detrimental effects on the performance of an opponent during a tennis match. “ We’re not sure if there is anything specific about the noise itself,” said Scott Sinnett, assistant psychology professor at the University of Hawaii Manoa. “It is possible that it masks the sound of the ball be ing struck by the tennis racket and therefore an opponent is
deprived of the information that this would carr y. A nother possibility would be that the sound uses up additional resources that could otherwise be directed to the shot itself.” Earlier this month, Sinnett’s fi ndings were published in an article in the Public Library of Science ONE. For the past three years, Sinnett along with Alan Kingstone, psychology professor at the University of British See Grunting, page 3
The impact on the state is clear. Ninty percent of Child Protective Services cases in which a child is removed from the home are due to a meth addict in the home. Ninty percent of federally sentenced drug cases involve meth. The estimated cost of methamphetamine abuse in Hawai‘i is $500 million annually. Adams said meth use is on the rise across the nation and in our state. According to Adams and the Department of Justice, crystal meth is at its highest level of purity and lowest price per gram since 2005. One of the major suppliers of the drug to the United States is Mexico. “We are Mexico’s largest methamphetamine customer in the world,” said Adams. “We provide Mexico with $500 billion for this drug, (money that goes) to the Mexican drug cartels.” Diagnostic Laboratories LLC, which does workforce drug testing, reported an increase in Hawaii workforce methamphetamine use for each of the last six quarters. 70 percent of the people they are testing are people who are applying for jobs. “These are people who can’t stay off the drug for four to seven days in order to pass the See Meth, next page