Hawaiʻi launched an anti-opioid initiative in 2017 when the federal government started making grants to the states. But no such initiative has ever addressed methamphetamine.

Over four decades, the losses piled up — prison, homelessness, illness, children taken by the state — and eventually, death. But the survivors would find sobriety.

Methamphetamine was largely unknown in Hawaiʻi in the mid-1980s, when “ice” took the islands by storm, setting off a national panic. Four decades later, the state is dealing with the lethal consequences.

A Civil Beat series starting today examines the people caught up in Hawaiʻi’s most severe drug problem, how it started and what’s being done about it.

Hawaiʻi was ground zero for smoking methamphetamine in the U.S. Today, it’s the only place where meth is far deadlier than opioids — yet the state has been slow to act.

After nearly a year of research and reporting, Civil Beat will launch the first in an ongoing series on Tuesday.

State and Kauaʻi County workers coordinated the removal of the fifth grader without her mother’s knowledge — or an order from a judge

After a suspect flashed what he implied was a gun at a planning office, Police Chief John Pelletier and others are calling for urgent action

A bill pending in the Hawaiʻi Legislature would limit the liability of nonprofits that contract with the state. Opponents say it would also cheat children.