Commissioner when he warned The Royal Gazette that the Island was about to be swamped with illegal drugs, returned here last week to find that his prediction had come depressingly true.

"Now I see that, proportionally, Bermuda has the largest addiction rate for its size and the largest number of people with HIV. Most AIDS cases arise from the use of drugs, not through homosexuality. But as long as you have leaders who are in denial over the true seriousness of the drugs problem, you aren't going to be able to treat that problem. And drugs are the greatest social evil in the world today.'' So said Rev. T. Wendell Foster, former pastor of Vernon Temple AME Church who was back in Bermuda for an official visit to celebrate the 66th anniversary of the Southampton church.

As a long-standing councilman of New York City, and pastor of Christ Church in the Bronx, Rev. Foster devotes much of his time to fighting the drugs war, but is disillusioned about the efforts of the US government.

"If they really wanted to stop drugs coming into the US they would start hitting at the source. But you can't `declare war' just by blowing a whistle -- you have to send the whole navy in.'' Meanwhile, he said, the US government was locking people up rather than curing them of their addiction through rehabilitation programmes.

"The only country with more prisons than the US is South Africa, and New York prisons are now so overcrowded, they're packing prisoners into barges on the river,'' he said.

"The authorities don't seem to understand that building more and more prisons is not going to deter people. Once a person is hooked, he will do anything to feed his habit. The only way we can fight this thing, whether it's in the US or Bermuda, is through education and rehabilitation.'' Rev. Foster joined forces with his friend of many years, comedian Dick Gregory, to organise the first awareness programmes in New York on the dangers of `crack' cocaine. For 15 consecutive weeks they held mass meetings on the steps of City Hall. Both are firm believers in the principle that the most effective drug counsellors are "those who have been there''.

Saying that both he and Dick Gregory would be willing to come to talk to the people of Bermuda "if invited'', Rev. Foster went on to comment that the famous comedian maintains that if the principal pusher is also a user and can be `turned around' through rehab, he can do more to get through to his peers in ten minutes than an outsider can in ten years.

He said: "When I'm drowning, send a swimmer to save me. Don't send someone who doesn't know how to swim!'' Rev. Foster said he felt the greatest need was to try and instil a sense of self-esteem in young people. "If you feel good about yourself, you don't need drugs to make you feel good or to deaden the pain. Even when I was poor and raggedy, I always had this feeling that I was as good, if not better than everyone one else.'' Here, he laughed and said, "I probably wasn't, but it seemed to work. I think there is something splendid inside every one of us. If something is bothering you, eating you alive, you have to let it out -- find someone to talk to, get rid of it before it eats away at you and you turn to drugs for comfort.'' He is bluntly derisive about those who talk about `recreational' drugs. "How can you talk about something you can't control as being recreational? That's a contradiction in terms. It is the drug culture that is causing unprecedented violence in our society. It's drug addicts, not alcoholics, who are going round stealing, mugging people and committing murder.'' Rev. Foster who, as a New York city executive, works closely but on the other side of the legislative fence with his friend of 26 years, Mayor David Dinkins, and refers to him as his "friendly adversary'', said that when he leaves his office in City Hall, he sees young kids smoking crack quite openly, without attempting to hide the fact. "This is a calamity that is destroying all of us. My own family has been burgled, mugged and our car vandalised. It affects everyone. But as Dr. King said, `You don't treat cancer with a band-aid' -- and yet we are treating drugs and AIDS, not even with fresh band-aids, but with old and worn out band-aids.'' Wendell Foster recalled that when he arrived here 40 years ago, the Vernon Temple was hardly a hive of activity, with only a dozen or so turning up for services.

But within weeks, the dynamic minister was holding services seven days a week and had established youth and drama clubs. His church also opened the first day care and community centres on the Island.

"We wrote plays and put one on at the Bermudiana theatre and we encouraged people to get involved in things like public speaking. I encouraged as many young Bermudians to go off to college as possible. We also tried to break down racial barriers by bringing in well known artists to perform. On one occasion, I had arranged to bring Eleanor Roosevelt here but she had to cancel at the last minute, because she was sick.'' Rev. Foster, who has been married for 35 years to his Bermudian wife, the former Helen Somersall, is credited with having inspired many black Bermudians to go on to university, notably opposition MPs Mr. Stanley Lowe, Mr. Reginald Burrows and Sen. Alex Scott.

His ministry coincided with the late 50s struggle for desegregation of public facilities, such as hotels, cinemas and restaurants.

"I was considered an agitator and hot-headed by some people,'' he recalled.

"But if you think of a washing machine, it has to agitate to get the clothes clean. Bermuda is too beautiful to allow racism, or any other `ism' to destroy it.'' In spite of the hostility he met from some quarters in Bermuda at that time, Rev. Foster said that he rarely felt anger towards them. "I was fighting racism and materialism -- but you fight the demon that causes people to act that way, not the people themselves.'' Having fought an apparently successful personal battle of his own, three or four years ago, when he overcame cancer, he insists that this, too, was a positive event.

"Before that, I had dealt with people from one side of the bed, telling them `you can do it'. Now, I say, `hey, we can do it!'' And this engagingly frank man, commenting on his years as Vice President of the World Peace Council admitted: "When the Soviet Union collapsed, I suddenly found myself out of a job. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that I greatly enjoyed my trips to Eastern Europe!'' ANNIVERSARY RETURN -- Rev. T. Wendell Foster seen addressing his former congregation at Vernon Temple AME Church during their 66th anniversary.