Government must study marijuana's true impact on Bermuda and then "reconsider whether it should be illegal'' an Opposition Senator said yesterday.

And at the same time lax laws allowing alcohol abuse to flourish -- causing health problems, road accidents and family breakdowns -- should be toughened, Sen. Calvin Smith said.

His call followed remarks by Opposition Senator Patricia Gordon-Pamplin that it was time Bermuda addressed underage drinking by imposing stiff fines in the private sector for those who served alcohol to minors.

She said no-one should have blamed the family who hosted murder-victim Rebecca Middleton in Bermuda, as one writer of a letter to The Royal Gazette had hinted.

"It is irresponsible to say the least to blame Miss Middleton's host for this tragic and unfortunate crime, rather than the culprits who were responsible.

"But having said that, Bermuda has a moral responsibility to address underage drinking. Culpability has to extend to the private sector for those serving alcohol to minors. '' Yesterday Sen. Smith called for the rethink on marijuana after responding to Sen. Pamplin-Gordon by saying the "glaring inconsistencies'' in drug and alcohol laws should be examined.

"My concern was to resolve the obvious contradiction between our emphasis on punishing people for using marijuana and the lack of punishment for using alcohol,'' he explained.

"The social problems that follow from alcohol abuse are enormous and frequent in Bermuda: physical impairment, cirrhosis of the liver, impaired driving, road accidents to name a few.

"The reason drugs like marijuana cause problems is the high costs involved because they're illegal so have been driven underground -- like Prohibition in the States which many people believe gave rise to organised crime.'' Senator: Review cannabis laws But Sen. Smith stressed he was only talking about marijuana and not harder drugs.

The Government should investigate marijuana's real impact on Bermuda and then reconsider whether it should remain an offence to use it, he said.

"Alcohol causes all matter of ills but because it is legal we allow all of these type of things to continue but the law is not always above reproach.

"Slavery and segregation are proof of that. They were allowed to flourish since people thought they were sacrosanct because they were legal.'' "I'm sick and tired of seeing young men's lives wrecked when they're deprived of going abroad to study because they've been convicted of an offence involving marijuana.

"That continues to happen when if they'd driven home drunk and smashed up their car and whatever else they would have had no problem going overseas.

"That's obviously not fair and it's time adults looked at this issue because what message are we sending young people over this?'' But he accepted that alcohol was "so woven into Bermuda's culture and economy that it would be difficult to do anything about it'' although he was sure it was the "most destructive drug on Earth''.

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