Anti-drug campaigners are set to picket Parliament to protest against MPs who rejected drug tests for themselves.

Takbir Sharrieff of Bermudians Against Narcotics said: ?When the House opens in the new year we will make our presence felt. We are talking about pickets and a petition ? whatever is necessary to make drug testing for MPs mandatory.

?There is no particular date in mind but we are very much going to protest in order to show our distaste for what the Government has done.

?I don?t know about high numbers for the protest but it will be high impact.?

At the last sitting of the House of Assembly before the Christmas break, the PLP blocked an Opposition motion which said MPs should undergo voluntary random tests.

Instead Government ministers ? including Mr. Sharrieff?s brother Wayne Perinchief who is the Minister of National Drug Control ? voted for a watered down motion to merely ?take note? of the idea.

To highlight his anger at the Government?s position, Mr. Sharrieff pointed to yesterday?s report in that Devonshire Cougars footballer Raymond (Packy) Beach has been banned for refusing to take national team drugs tests.

He said that in his view, the tough stance on this matter taken by the Bermuda Council for Drug Free Sport ? an independent body ? only served to illustrate the ?double standards? and ?arrogance? of the Government?s position.

?This young man was asked to take a test but the Government will not take one. He didn?t want to take it and was disallowed from the sport. Our citizens are put through this but not people getting paid out of the Government coffers. It?s so hypocritical it makes me sick,? he said.

Mr. Perinchief, who has previously told that he personally supports mandatory drug testing for MPs, said of the plans to picket Parliament: ?Bermudians Against Narcotics are an independent organisation and we have no control over them. They will do as they wish and we will let them.?

Asked what he will be doing as Minister for National Drug Control in 2006 to push for drug testing for MPs, Mr. Perinchief said: ?No doubt we will be doing something to go forward on the discussions about this and the picket will no doubt increase the resolve to do something on this one way or the other.

?I would say that this is an issue that has grabbed people?s interest.?

But in an apparent change of heart over his previous comments in favour of compulsory testing for MPs, he signalled that he now views voluntary tests as the preferred option.

?I would think that people with a sense of responsibility would be quite happy to do it voluntarily but this would have to be a policy decision,? he said. ?The word mandatory has all sorts of connotations ? it would mean we would have to put sanctions in place for non-compliance and I don?t think that?s practicable.?