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 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.

The Premier refused to say why he was adding to the Cabinet when he had earlier promised to reduce the Cabinet and move to full-time Ministers.

Explaining his new post Mr. Perinchief told : "It is going to be an overarching Ministry.

"It will impact on every Ministry ? any type of connection to drug interdiction whether it be Alternatives to Incarceration and the National Drug Commission.

"It will go into health and public safety because of the prisons and the Police and also the rehabilitation side. It's going to be a broad-reaching ministry."

There will be a big push to reduce demand for drugs through education and rehabilitation, said Mr. Perinchief.

"We will not impact on the jurisdiction on the Commissioner of Police.

"Nor will we impact on the jurisdiction of the courts."

"What we will try to do is implement policy on how they carry out their role in dealing with drugs and drug offenders.

"At this stage we are still formulating policy and strategy. There will be a partnering of all the groups ? a coordinated effort. My role is coordination."

Mr. Perinchief, a former Assistant Commissioner of Police, said the Police needed to go back to the days of Clean Sweep ? a large crack down on street dealers set up in the mid 1990s.

"That approach was the correct one. I think we need to encourage that to take the open dealing off the street. That should be a given."

Inexperienced Police could be part of the problem, suggested Mr. Perinchief.

He said the National Drug Commission will assume a pivotal role is shaping policy, especially in education and helping the helping services.

That came as a surprise to Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons who said Government had done a 180 degree turn on the NDC after ending its autonomy in the last session and deciding to fold it into the Ministry of Health.

Dr. Gibbons said the Premier was trying to appease the back bench who were upset about being overlooked in favour of bringing back Lt. Col. Burch who last week replaced sacked Works and Engineering and Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent. And he questioned whether Mr. Perinchief had any real power.

"Hopefully it isn't just window dressing and not just additional bureaucracy. It some respects it seems as if the efforts of the Minister of Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety have not been terribly successful when it comes to drugs but apparently the Premier is not of the view to make changes there. It is also a little bit of a surprise given the Government said it would reduce the number of Cabinet positions."

Sandy Butterfield, the executive director of Focus Counselling Services, welcomed the appointment.

She said: "Wayne is a good guy. If they had to do anything I think it was a good choice."

Ms Butterfield noted Mr. Perinchief's long service on the National Drug Commission board.

The appointment was also hailed by Mr. Perinchief's brother Takbir Sharrieff who is organising march against drugs which he said was a national scourge affecting the whole island.

"If we don't stop it now it will continue and eat up all the good that has been done in Bermuda. It is no longer confined to the back streets. It is everybody's problem. I think the Police are doing a fantastic job but they have been labouring for many years without help. We are saying Bermudians themselves need to get involved in getting drugs out of neighbourhoods and families."

He said all it needed was for one serious ugly incident involving an addict attacking someone in the international sector to spread alarm and fear that Bermuda was no longer a safe haven for people to do business.