100 Autopsies: Meth Deaths Spiking 40 Years After Ice Seized Hawaiʻi
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.
Meth’s Lethal Grip On Hawaiʻi
Hawaiʻi was the first place in the U.S. where the smokable form of methamphetamine appeared. Now, 40 years later, the magnitude of the consequences are becoming apparent as more people than ever die here of the drug’s toxic effects.
Civil Beat Illustration‘We Were The Guinea Pigs’: How Smokable Meth Made Its U.S. Landfall In Hawaiʻi
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.
Civil Beat Illustration/April Estrellon
Civil Beat Photo Illustration. Source Images: Courtesy of Kapu Shoaf and Kēhau Manijo.Hawaiʻi’s 1990s Meth Tide Swept Up These 4 People. Only 2 Survived
Over four decades, the losses piled up — prison, homelessness, illness, children taken by the state — and eventually, death. But the survivors would find sobriety.
Related Stories
5 Takeaways From Our Investigation Of Methamphetamine In Hawaiʻi
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.
Have you or a loved one been affected by meth? Share your story.