Government unveiled its new drugs master plan yesterday which will give equal weight to reducing demand and supply.

Social Rehabilitation Minister Dale Butler said the five-year plan, which has been two years in the making, will bring together all the agencies including Police, customs and the department of National Drug Control in one coordinated effort.

He said greater acceptability and availability had increased the risk of drug abuse for young people.

Mr. Butler added:"All of this has caused an unprecedented upsurge in the prevalence of illicit drug use mainly cocaine and heroin, as well as drug-related criminal activity associated with illicit drug trafficking."

The plan calls on churches, schools, communities, business and families to help the drug fight as Government tries to slash drug use and the health damage and crime that goes with it while increasing the number of successfully treated addicts.

Initiatives include a mandatory drug treatment programme in prison.

National Drug Control department director Caron Assan said it would mean dedicated care rather than a piecemeal approach but she could not say when that would begin.

Asked about what was new and different about the master plan she said:"The prime focus was on interdiction, what is different is we are saying there needs to be balanced approach so both treatment and demand supply reduction are worked on both simultaneously and one is not taking precedence over the other."

For years residents in areas blighted by open drug dealing have complained about the lack of Police presence. Asked what was different under the new plan Butler said a close working relationship with the Police should lead to an improvement.

"There's been some remediation in a number of these areas."But he said the dealers moved about.

"We are hoping for a drug free society by being more vigilant and working closely with the Police to ensure these numbers don't increase.

"We can't tell the public every single strategy that Police will do to alert them to their strategies but I can assure you that more efforts will be made to make their neighbourhoods drug free and safer."There are few people that hang out in these areas in the Court Street and Middle Town areas because the 24-hour surveillance of CCTV cameras have led to a reduction."

And Premier Ewart Brown said Bermuda could not afford to dispose of people because they got off track.

"We believe there is a basic goodness in human beings and people who get off track can be brought back on track including people in the drug world."

The plan includes anti-drug programmes in the curriculum, prevention plans to target groups or settings such as school drop-outs and drunk drivers.

A needle exchange programme to reduce the risk of AIDs and hepatitis is being assessed although drug chiefs realise most heroin is snorted or smoked rather than injected.