Former drugs counsellor Austin Warner has been unveiled as the United Bermuda Party’s candidate for Pembroke Central.

The seat is held by Community and Cultural Affairs Minister Wayne Perinchief who beat the UBP’s Leonard Santucci by 406 votes to 331 in the 2003 General Election.

Party leader Wayne Furbert said Mr. Warner was someone with real compassion who had served as a pastor, counsellor and teacher.

Mr. Warner said he saw his move into politics as a calling and he has given up his job as a counsellor at Sandys Secondary school to enter the political fray.

Known as the host of Family Focus radio show on ZBM, Mr. Warner has long been known as the public face of the annual telethon to raise money for substance abuse programmes.

And he said tackling addiction was one of his political priorities, although the problem began in the family.

“I want to put time and energy in strengthening the family and bringing it back where the family once was.”

Lack of care for seniors was another concern while quickly turning around the education system is a must and he said his party proposed financial help to send more students to Bermuda College.

He said not enough was being done on clamping down on drug dens.

“I was part of a coalition in the United States where we literally burned down 52 crack houses,” he said. “We burned them to the ground so there was no other resource for the addict but to go into treatment.”

He said Bermuda needed a state of the art drug rehabilitation facility to cut down on the need to send addicts overseas.

A 54-year-old American with Bermuda status, Mr. Warner was born in Harlem, New York but has worked in Bermuda for 30 years.

Asked if not being Bermudian would be a campaign drawback, he said: “When God is for you, who is against you? I don’t really believe anything is against me.”

Former drugs counsellor set to run for UBP