Controversial drugs funding body The Council Partners Charitable Trust has decided to disband.

After raising more than $9 million for agencies over the last decade, Council Partners (CPCT) chairman Gary Madeiros said it was time to stop as it was only funding youth awareness group PRIDE.

He said it could not justify employing staff and renting an office and he denied clashes with other drugs agencies had led to its downfall.

He said: ?Having an office costs a lot of money. You have to make sure we are at a level that supports that cost.? Mr. Madeiros said he hoped the administrative loose ends would be tied up by January although the lease on the office in Cedarparkade runs until May.

The organisation still employs an administrative assistant, having scaled back from a staff of four.

Mr. Madeiros said even employing two people and paying for the office cost $260,000 annually.

At its peak, the CPCT put in around a million a year in funding to bodies such as The Centre on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention (CADA), Fair Havens Christian Care Community, Focus Counselling Services, Lions Quest, The Family Learning Centre and the Salvation Army. Currently it is funding the Parent Resource Institute for Drug Education (PRIDE) at $350,000 a year and was supporting CADA alcohol awareness programme Bermuda Responsible Alcohol Safety and Service (BRASS).

Health Minister Patrice Minors said she was grateful for the work the CPCT had done but said Government was able to pick up any funding shortfall.

She said: ?I appreciate there have been some shaky relationships prior to my arrival.?

In January, her predecessor Nelson Bascome condemned the CPCT for sleeping on the job after women?s rehabilitation centre Fair Havens and Island drug retreat Camp Spirit closed while drug counselling group Focus ran into arrears.

The CPCT said at the time it wanted to improve standards to ensure donors were getting value for money. But some drugs bodies accused the group of meddling and micromanaging.

In January, CPCT executive director Gordon Johnson and board chairman Henry Smith announced they would be standing down and said the body wanted to work more closely with the National Drugs Commission, which co-ordinates drug treatment.

However, one year on the body is only now set to close. Mr. Madeiros pointed out CPCT had been set up in 1994 to run for a five-year period with the goal of getting the agencies to improve management.

?We obviously have continued well beyond the five-year period, but now that the funding requirements have diminished this is the right time to closely examine our role.?

Focus executive director Sandy Butterfield said CPCT?s demise left a gap and meant her organisation would have to start fundraising again, which diverted time and energy from clients.

She said: ?We get 50 percent of our funding from Government. It?s been a struggle.

?This puts fundraising back on our plate, which takes time. But if you have to do it, you have to do it.

?I will never be able to do the good job they did. My expertise is not in raising funds and other agencies will face that challenge. I don?t like to go out and ask people for money.?

She said she had been shocked by CPCT?s announcement and believed the dust had settled after recent friction between drug agencies.

?Everyone could have been reborn. I think we sometimes lose focus of what we are here for; we are here for the client.?

Shadow Health Minister Michael Dunkley said he was not surprised at the CPCT?s decision.

?There has been exasperation about the programmes which have been put in place. The only option they faced was to get out of the helping industry.

?We are disappointed. The CPCT provided very valuable resources over a number of years and raised much needed funds.?

The CPCT had also held drug bodies accountable said Mr. Dunkley.

?The NDC is getting $5 million a year but I am not sure we can feel comfortable that the money is being used properly.

?Are people getting help, are the programmes successful? These are questions that can?t be answered right now.?