therefore doing nothing to combat it.

And, unfortunately, there are other members of the community "who not only refuse to do anything whatsoever to help the problem, but who are ever ready to criticise and ridicule those of us who are trying to do something about it,'' said Chairman of the National Drug Commission Mr. Mansfield (Jimmy) Brock at the Hamilton Rotary Club luncheon yesterday.

He added: "I become uncomfortable when I hear people talk about `the war against drugs' because how can we have a war against drugs when we have no army.

"The NDC is attempting to persuade the entire community to become involved in tackling this problem. We are trying to recruit an army so that we can start a war against drugs.'' Mr. Brock also said that the Commission had written to all the local churches, and other sectors of the religious community, all the Parent-Teacher Associations, unions and employer organisations, the three political parties, every member of the House of Assembly and Senate, and all sports clubs and sporting bodies.

"Dr. David Archibald, who recommended the creation of NDC, said the only way to contain and then to reduce substance abuse in Bermuda is to mobilise the entire community to get involved in the fight,'' Mr. Brock said.

He added: "We are asking various groups to form alliances to fight the problem.

"Our overall strategy is both supply reduction and demand reduction.

Notwithstanding the view one often hears expressed that because of Bermuda's isolation the authorities should be able to keep drugs out.'' Mr. Brock said he seriously doubted that Police and Customs could keep all drugs out of the Island without turning Bermuda into a Police state.

"We must face the fact that drugs are big business. There is so much money to be made that suppliers will tolerate a great deal of risk. As long as there is demand, there will be supply,'' Mr. Brock added.

He also said that the first goal of the NDC is to contain the drug problem.

"But in order to know whether we are successful in achieving that goal we must get to know the dimensions of the problem - its prevalence, rate of growth, severity and trends,'' Mr. Brock said.

He added: "This information can be obtained only by means of a statistically reliable survey of the adult population. We hope to conduct such a survey sometime during 1995.'' "Another very important area of concern is the area of research. We need to find the answers to many questions. Why are so many Bermudians, especially young Bermudians, taking drugs? "What are the factors in our homes, in our schools, in our culture and in our environment generally, which foster alcohol and drug use by our children.'' Mr. Brock also said that to view substance use only as the fault or weakness of an individual user would be to deny that the environment in which we live makes a difference in the way that individuals behave.

"Once we have identified these elements, we must then find out what preventative strategies work. It will obviously require the combined efforts of the entire community to change those aspects of our culture and environment which must be changed to discourage alcohol and drug abuse,'' Mr. Brock said.

"The abuse of drugs, and the crime and violence that accompanies it, is probably the biggest problem Bermuda has ever faced.'' Mr. Mansfield Brock