MONDAY, JULY 16, 2018 WESTHAWAIITODAY.COM 75¢
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NUMBERS SAY HAWAII’S OPIOID PROBLEM ISN’T AS BAD AS THE MAINLAND, BUT EXPERTS
HAVE THEIR GUARD UP, MAKING STRIDES TO GET RESIDENTS ON ROAD TO RECOVERY
The southern boundary
of the flow front at the
ocean entry of lava from
Kilauea volcano’s lower East
Rift Zone remained a little
more than a half-mile away
from Isaac Hale Beach Park
and Pohoiki boat ramp on
Sunday, according to Hawaii
Volcanoes National Park.
The channelized ’a’a flow
west of Kapoho Crater continues
to be the main ocean
entry at the southern edge
of the flow front. Despite no
visible surface connection
to the fissure No. 8 channel,
lava continues to ooze
out at several points on the
3.7-mile-wide flow front into
the ocean.
According to an update
posted on the HVO website
Dr. Michael McGrath performs a consultation at his office at the Recovery Enhanced
Medicine Institute in Kailua-Kona. LAURA RUMINSKI/WEST HAWAII TODAY
shortly before noon Sunday,
fissure 8 continues to erupt
lava into the perched channel
leading northeastward from
the vent.
Lava levels in the upper
channel increased briefly
following a summit collapse
explosion event at
Halema‘uma‘u crater at
3:26 a.m. Sunday. The collapse
explosion produced
energy equivalent to a magnitude
5.2 earthquake.
Another short-lived overflow
of the channel at the vent
spread east-southeast Sunday
morning, but did not advance
beyond the existing flow field.
No other fissures were
active as of Sunday morning.
Volcanic gas emissions
along the lower East Rift
KAILUA-KONA — There’s
one thing to understand right
away about the root of the opioid
crisis — there is no one thing.
Or, as Dr. Michael McGrath
at his Recovery Enhanced
Medicine Institute on Alapa
Street in Kailua-Kona, put it:
“Any time you try to reduce
this complicated thing down to
a very simple answer,” he said,
“you’re missing a lot.”
Reasons are plenty how the
nation entrenched itself in the
middle of a dark opioid problem
— doctors who over-prescribe,
pharmaceutical companies
pushing pills onto the public, to
name a few.
But for McGrath and the
many others on the front lines
of the opioid fight on Hawaii
Island, the focus is on the scores
of people in the community
seeking a life beyond opioid use
disorder and the elements that
are within their — and their
clients’ — control.
A quick look at national figures
would suggest all is well
in the Aloha State — Hawaii’s
death rate for opioid-related
overdoses is among the lowest
in the country and has the
nation’s lowest rate of opioid
prescriptions, but health experts
are wary, noting the state often
experiences a delayed impact of
national trends.
The experts know the stakes.
“It is life or death for most
of our clients, and they don’t
all make it,” said Eliza Wille,
Linda Bradley
Realtor/Broker
RB-15020
808-896-1579
Serving Kona since 1985
Linda@ElitePacifi c.com
www.LindaBradley.com
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ATTACKING
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Trump opens
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PAGE 3A
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HI 88 LO 76 WEATHER, PAGE 4A
VOL. 50, NO. 197 20 PAGES
BY CAMERON MICULKA
WEST HAWAII TODAY
cmiculka@westhawaiitoday.com
Editor’s note: This five-day series by West Hawaii Today focuses on opioid addiction
on Hawaii Island. It begins with how a heroin overdose played a vital role in the shuttering
of a well-know Kailua-Kona homeless camp and finishes on what more needs to be
done to fight painkiller abuse. Eye-opening stats will be presented along the way:
Hawaii County’s prescription rate doubles every other county in the state, while a
vast majority of overdose calls are in homes and condos, not in homeless sites.
Day 1: The end of tunnels: How a fatal heroin overdose helped shutter a camp under the highway
Day 2: Averted or inevitable? Hawaii numbers lower than mainland, but officials wary
Day 3: Figures on the front: Meeting the faces and agencies fighting against opioid abuse
Day 4: Lessons learned: Safeguards, prevention improved with knowledge gained
Day 5: Coming out the other side: More is needed in the fight, but recovery story proof it works
SEE OPIOIDS PAGE 5A
Just creeping along
LAVA ABOUT A HALF-MILE FROM ISAAC HALE PARK
HAWAII TRIBUNE-HERALD STAFF
The laze plume rises where lava pours into the sea on the
south margin of the fissure 8 flow. This southern boundary
did not change location appreciably in the past day, remaining
about 900 m (0.56 mile) from the Pohoiki boat ramp at Isaac
SEE LAVA PAGE 4A Hale Park. US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY/COURTESY PHOTO
Permitted
LABOR SHORTAGE
LEAVES OPEN
POSSIBILITY FOR
NEW CESSPOOL
INSTALLATION ON
HAWAII ISLAND
BY MAX DIBLE
WEST HAWAII TODAY
mdible@westhawaiitoday.com
KAILUA-KONA —
Developers, businesses and
single-home builders aren’t
supposed to construct new
cesspools anywhere in Hawaii,
but a labor shortage within
one Hawaii County department
creates what is essentially
a loophole, leaving open the
possibility to do just that on
the Big Island.
Gov. David Ige banned construction
of new cesspools
statewide in March of 2016. A
little more than a year later, the
state Legislature passed a law
declaring every cesspool operator
must transition away from
cesspools by or before 2050 —
putting roughly 50,000 transitions
in the works for Hawaii
Island, where cesspools are
more prevalent than the rest
of the state combined.
Every building permit
Hawaii County has issued
over the last two-plus years
since the law change has come
with a strict no-cesspool stipulation.
The county adopts
and enforces building code,
while the state Department
of Health (DOH) implements
and enforces health code
involving wastewater systems
through county district health
offices.
However, building permits
are governed by the rules in
place at the time the permits
were issued, which applies to
both county building code and
state health code. Therefore,
any permit issued prior to the
law change in 2016 has already
gone through the district
health office review process
and would be exempt from a
no-cesspool stipulation.
In other words, if a builder
obtained a permit pre-2016,
that builder can legally install
a cesspool. Considering expiration
guidelines in Hawaii
County Code (HCC), however,
this problem wouldn’t appear
all that severe.
According to HCC 5-22, the
county renders permits null
and void either three years
after issuance, or 180 days
after issuance if the applicant
hasn’t begun the work. The
rule stipulates the county may
grant an extension as long as
six months.
More specifically, the county
renders owner-building permits
null and void five years
after issuance, Barett Otani,
spokesperson for the Hawaii
County Department of Public
SEE PERMITTED PAGE 4A
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