Premier Alex Scott's appointment this week of a Cabinet-level "drugs czar" deserves two cheers, but not three. Drugs are one of the most serious problems facing the community.

They are, in the words of Mr. Scott, at the root of much of crime. The costs of the damage done as a result of addiction to individuals, families, businesses and the social fabric are immeasurable. The Government budget devoted directly and indirectly to drug interdiction, drug-related crime and demand reduction must be in the tens of millions of dollars, if not the hundreds of millions of dollars.

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Premier Alex Scott has appointed Wayne Perinchief to head a new National Drug Control Ministry to combat the scourge of illegal narcotics.

The Premier said drugs are the driving force behind crime in Bermuda and the new Ministry was a bold, innovative step taken to further combat drugs and crime.

He told The Royal Gazette: "The community will be most impressed and encouraged the Government is now putting full attention -- a Minister for drugs, full stop."

After serving as a Progressive Labour Party MP since 1998, Mr. Perinchief will finally enter the Cabinet but Mr. Scott explained Mr. Perinchief will not encroach on the Home Affairs and Public Safety Ministry of Randy Horton who will retain all the authority he previously held.

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A woman who suffers from the central nervous system disease Multiple Sclerosis is begging the Government to legalize `medical marijuana.'

The woman, a Bermudian working in the health profession, has been battling MS for years. She's tried a variety of painkillers but nothing has been as effective or agreeable as marijuana, which she ate, straight out of the freezer for almost a year until her supply ran out.

Her plea, however, is unlikely to provoke any momentum. The Government says it's got no plans to conduct a review and the MS Society of Bermuda says its members are content with using legal drugs. It means she's left with two choices -- either she gets `lucky' and somebody provides her with the drug free of charge or she uses prescription drugs, which, like marijuana, carry potential side-effects.

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A Pennsylvania man had to pay $2,000 into Government coffers by the end of business day on Friday after he was fined for having more than 14 grams of cannabis on his arrival at the Airport this week.

When John Lewis Stevens arrived, a drug-sniffing Police dog found three home-made cigarettes in an eyeglass case. Police also found a Fedex bill showing he had sent a package to himself where he was staying here. The package -- found to have a bag of cannabis and a bag of white powder -- was intercepted.

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Thirteen Police officers crowded into the control room of Somerset Police station.

P.c. Jonathan Siddle, heading up the drugs-bust operation, addressed the assembled officers in a stern, authoritative Yorkshire accent. "Right lads, thank you all for coming," he began.

"We're hitting the Cambridge Road area this afternoon, in response to intelligence we've received of large amounts of drugs being dealt in the area. This is a fast and fluid operation gentleman - be ruthless. We're not here to be nice. Let's give the drug dealers a little something to think about before Christmas."/ The Royal Gazette /was invited along to witness what Police claim will be the first of many operations in the western area of the Island, in response to community concerns that the level of drug activity is beginning to pick up.

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Dear Sir,

I just finished reading Stuart Hayward's article in today's Bermuda Sun, on "drug-sniffing dogs in schools" and I found him to be a bit contradicting at times.

To say that the issue is not one of clear right or wrong is sitting on the fence. If we have students bringing drugs to school, how can the issue not be clear? The student who had drugs at Mount Saint Agnes was not the first student to bring drugs to school, and that student will not be the last one.

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One of the more radical moves announced in Friday's Throne Speech was the decision to merge the National Drugs Commission into the Ministry of Health Family Services.

After saying that it was incumbent on Government to cause positive change in the lives of those afflicted by drug and alcohol addiction and praising the NDC's valuable role in "setting the direction of Government's response to drug and alcohol abuse", the Throne Speech added: "However, after careful review, it has been determined that those who require services can be better assisted by the Ministry of Health and Family Services who are now well placed to deliver a holistic and comprehensive approach to prevention, counselling and rehabilitation.

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Magistrate Edward King could not contain his despair yesterday as he handed stiff fines and a one-year prison sentence to young drug offenders.

"When I see young people like yourself - and this one and that one - wasting their life replacing those who have passed on as long term residents of her majesty's prison, the future has to be bleak," the Magistrate told Adam Leroy King, a 25-year-old Hamilton Parish resident. "Because you youngsters end up making no meaningful contribution to society and when you get old you'll probably be among those who are described as having made Bermuda what it is, and they deserve better, they deserve more pension."

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The Opposition United Bermuda Party fully intends to push for random drug testing for Bermuda's legislators.

"We as leaders have a level of responsibility and accountability. I think it is incumbent on us to ensure that we bring it up again," said Shadow Works Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin.

She made the comments during a Press conference yesterday in which she announced that all of her party's legislators had passed random drug tests.

She said 18 of the legislators had been randomly selected and tested with one hour's notice, and in the first half of this year another nine were tested.

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Police Yesterday Dismissed Claims They Were Ignoring The Presence Of A Crack House In Warwick

An area landowner yesterday publicly accused officers of failing to investigate a known haven for drug users in Hillview Estate despite the many complaints he had made about it to them.

Officers denied any knowledge of the property -- detailed by a correspondent signing himself "Concerned" in a Letter to the Editor of The Royal Gazette -- but admitted there was little they could do without proof of illegal activity. "Unfortunately, we have a lot of homes in Bermuda that are used specifically as crack houses," said police media spokesperson Dwayne Caines. "And what we do, is make arrests in and around those areas we know to be frequented by people who are trafficking, selling and using narcotics. It's something we do on a regular basis.

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Unite For A Drug-Free Bermuda

A RED ribbon campaign launched earlier this week, hopes to see residents combine their efforts to make Bermuda a drug-free community.

On Tuesday, the Parents Resource Institute for Drug Education (PRIDE) kicked off its Red Ribbon celebration -- a series of events designed to highlight success in drug prevention -- with the theme, "Unite for a Drug-Free Bermuda".

According to event/parent co-ordinator, Kenlyn Butterfield, the celebration has been held during the same period for the last seven years.

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MENTAL health is just as important as physical health - as we should be equally conscious of looking after it.

That is one of the main messages of Mental Health Awareness Week, which was launched on Monday by Health Minister Patrice Minors.

One way in which many of us adversely affect our mental as well as physical health is by taking drugs - legal or illegal. The most widespread examples are alcohol and nicotine.

Dr. Edirimuni Rodrigo, a consultant psychiatrist at St. Brendan's Hospital, who completed his training in Sri Lanka and England, takes a closer look at this phenomenon in this week's Insight.

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A marijuana farmer directed The Royal Gazette to his illegal plot yesterday after saying he had been tipped off that it was under surveillance.

The anonymous caller rang yesterday morning and described how to reach the four-by-12 metre plot hidden in dense woodland on Government land in the East of the Island. It harboured a crop which has netted him $40,000.

When The Royal Gazette paid a visit it found the area thick with plants ten feet high among barrels for irrigation.

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The man destined one day to become the seventh Baron Hindlip was fined $3,000 in Magistrates' Court on Thursday for smuggling 16.39 grams of cannabis resin inside a condom tied to his penis.

Self-employed art dealer Henry William Allsopp, 31, of London, appeared visibly shaken after pleading guilty before Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner at Magistrates' Court. "We take the importation of drugs very very seriously here in Bermuda. You had one foot in the prison door," Mr. Warner told him.

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Education, rehabilitation and not incarceration -- these were the words of seven prisoners who graduated from the Alternative Substance Abuse Programme at an emotional ceremony at Westgate Correctional Facility yesterday.

More than 70 family members and friends gathered to wish the inmates well on their way to a drug-free life, including Labour and Home Affairs Minister Randy Horton, UBP Senator Kenny Bascome and Acting US Consul General Antoinette Boecker.

"Too much money is spent on locking people up and not addressing the issues," said one inmate, who told the audience he had been a drug user for over 23 years but had come to terms with his addiction through the programme.

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The Rastafarian community enjoyed a cordial meeting with Premier Alex Scott this week but he is refusing to budge on the issue of cannabis.

A delegation of four people from the 200-odd member group met him on Wednesday to push for changes in the law which they say criminalises young black men.

But Mr. Scott said: "Bermuda has a very definite policy, we are not trying to encourage any further drug use."

In a paper presented to Mr. Scott, the Rastas said the drug had a medical use and that countries such as Canada recognised this while in Britain Police had down-graded cannabis as they poured resources into more harmful matters.

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Police say heroin use is on the up while those in the drug world say addicts are moving back to needles, sparking a fear of a new deadly HIV epidemic.

Hundreds of lives were lost in Bermuda at the height of needle sharing in the 1980s and 1990s but heroin users then moved to snorting and smoking the drug as AIDS awareness grew.

Now needles are moving back into fashion according to drug counsellors and users. And Acting Chief Medical Officer Brenda Davidson said: "I have no official information on that but certainly from my own observations I can confirm I have seen needle use recently.

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Police sounded a warning about criminals from America and the Caribbean targeting Bermuda as crime went up slightly up in the second quarter of 2004.

Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith said links had been fostered with American Police forces as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

"Those relations are very solid. There is a free exchange of information between us.

"One of the disturbing trends that we are maintaining a very close watch on is the increased involvement of foreign nationals engaged in drugs and violent crime in Bermuda.

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BERMUDA'S increasing problem with Ecstasy has led the National Drug Commission (NDC) to revive an awareness campaign highlighting the powerful stimulant and its dangers.

The campaign follows accusations made more than a year ago, that the drug's rising presence was behind a spate of violence on the island -- a claim police said could not be substantiated without evidence provided by a major seizure.

Although the NDC admits it is yet to receive the most recent Ecstasy statistics, the organisation's understanding is that finding the drug is fairly simple.

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Eight American cruise passengers were fined a total of $8,500 for importing drugs to the Island.

The visitors pleaded guilty to bringing in various amounts of cocaine and cannabis, Magistrates' Court heard.

Adam Bortelli, 24, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a passenger on the Horizon, was fined $1,000 for importing 4.55 grams of cannabis on July 5.

Stephen Travis Cook, 26, of North Carolina, a passenger on the Horizon was fined $1,000 for importing 0.97 grams of cannabis on July 1. When asked if had anything to say, Cook said: "I'm having too much of a gorgeous time, and I apologise."

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