Illegal drugs and the tragic impact on societies worldwide has some experts reaching the conclusion that reducing demand which keeps this lucrative underworld business thriving is the only solution.It has been generally accepted that the huge smuggling trade of cocaine, heroin and other illegal substances from Latin America into the United States is a direct result of the massive demand in America, and results in billions of dollars of profits for traffickers.Despite a wide range of programmes designed to discourage this activity, when you have a generation largely hooked on using drugs to produce a false high, drug dealers will stop at nothing to keep their customers from all walks of life satisfied.Every year, thousands of people, many of them innocent bystanders are killed in brutal clashes between police and heavily armed drug dealers throughout the world. Parts of Mexico are notorious for vicious cold blooded executions between rival gangs over trading turf. Top police officials and public officials have also fallen victim to this never ending war against the multibillion dollar drugs trade.While law officials from many countries including the United States, confiscate billions of dollars of contraband every year, they are not able to halt the flow completely, because when one method fails, dealers quickly seek other means to deliver supplies. Remember it is the customer who keeps their business alive. Without them there is no drugs trade.A top American police officer recently said he was convinced that the only real solution was to educate young people at infancy stage on the dangers of becoming involved, in order to at least reduce demand in the next generation. It makes sense, because a business cannot survive without customers.No doubt implementing a full scale programme to educate about illegal drugs throughout our entire system of learning will not be easy. Bermuda has a serious illegal drug problem with customers throughout our society. In fact we probably pass customers daily who appear to be law-abiding citizens, but in the dark shadows are a part of the problem, and not the solution.Most would agree that this is a sensitive subject which has affected practically every family in Bermuda. In some cases even parents have been engaged in illegal drug activity, and this places children at greater risk. Without proper guidance, children become easy targets.If a massive community effort was launched to explain to every young child in Bermuda how dangerous illegal drugs can be to the body and the mind, it would possibly lead to a sharp reduction in customers in the years ahead.Just as the world launched an all-out attack on the hazards of smoking which resulted in smoking bans in just about every jurisdiction, a similar thrust should be aimed at catching young minds early to stem the illegal drug tide.Rehabilitation programmes to assist addicts requires a great deal of expensive care, and while there are success stories, the failure rate is still depressingly high. In this case, an ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure.The Police and immigration officials along with drug enforcement agencies in other jurisdictions work around the clock, to prevent shipments from reaching the public domain. However there is no let up in fresh attempts to smuggle drugs, despite many traffickers being caught and sent to prison. The illegal drug trade will not vanish overnight as long as the demand remains.If Bermuda intends to be truly serious about this menace, our best hope is to protect and save young minds before history simply repeats itself in the next generation. That is almost unthinkable, but it will become reality, if we fail to educate early.