Hawaii is a magical place; people come here for a lot of reasons. Unlike most vacation destinations, Hawaii has no legal gambling, excuse me, gaming is the politically correct name preferred by the industry. Gambling was such a strong part of the original culture that the anti-fun missionaries worked really hard to stamp it out, along with hula. Hawaii island is even more special.
We can have all four seasons at the same time. One of the wettest places on earth, and one of the driest, are less than 10 miles apart. Every natural disaster is possible here, fortunately not at the same time, so far. We have almost all the climate zones in the world nine out of 10, or ten out of twelve depending on what book you’re reading. Arctic is absent, though we do have permafrost. We have endemic species like nene found nowhere else in the world.
Hawaii County is a small town (200,000) with very long streets. The county government, with a small town budget, has responsibility for an area the size of an eastern state with enough issues for a continent. We have four National Parks: Hawaii Volcanoes, Pu’uhonua O Honaunau, Kaloko Honokohau and Pu’ukohola Heiau. Only Alaska, California and Utah have more; Utah is 20 times as big.
Our range of altitude from sea level to almost 14000 feet is exceeded only by Alaska, California and Washington. We can drive to their peaks; 4WD is recommended. We have four active volcanoes! Kilauea is not only the world’s most active, but also the only drive-to erupting volcano. Hawaii island is a bit short on miles -long picture postcard beaches, but if you are willing to walk a bit we have some very special ones you might have all to yourself.
The last traditional Hawaiian fishing village is on the Big Island in Milolii. Much native culture survives even though outboard motors, modern equipment and some modern materials have intervened. Pu’uhonua O Honaunau is the only place of refuge that still resembles its ancient features. An offender who could make it there might be forgiven.
Sometimes we feel outnumbered by tourists, not really, but when local facilities are near capacity, a sudden ten-percent increase of users causes gridlock and a trip that should take 20 minutes can turn into an hour. It does not help when some visitors barely know how to drive. We drive with aloha, courtesy, as if the other drivers were our family. You can tell the tourists are back. Who else wears new clothes to the beach or rents a 4WD jeep to go to a state park?
Sometimes you can tell where tourists are from by the way they drive. If they’re from Japan they drive 25 everywhere. From Massachusetts? They have no idea what a stop sign is for. There is a nickname for them in New England and it rhymes with hole. Drivers from Kansas brake for every curve. If they never drive slower than 70, they are likely from Montana.
We have another imported problem: fentanyl. It is a synthetic opiate 100 times stronger than heroin. Dosage is measured in micrograms. Police confiscated a backpack containing around 40 kilograms. That could be 40 million doses. Enough to supply California. It can be manufactured for pennies a kilogram and sold for dollars a microgram. Impossible to control by enforcement. Thousands of dollars’ worth can be smuggled in a sandwich bag.
The only way to break the criminal drug distribution is to take away the profit. Regulate recreational drugs in the imperfect but reasonably effective way we regulate alcohol. Products of standardized strength and quality in standardized packaging at minimum profit. When we can’t make things that we don’t approve go away, the least-harm approach usually achieves a reasonable situation. An attempt for moralistic perfection just drives the behavior out of sight and usually creates a criminal underground with the attendant opportunities for corruption.