Both the Opposition and a former head of Bermuda?s drug squad have reacted with dismay to plans to downgrade cannabis offences.

United Bermuda Party Home Affairs spokesman Maxwell Burgess said it sent the wrong message to black males whom National Drugs Control Minister Wayne Perinchief had said he was trying to protect.

In an interview with published yesterday, Mr. Perinchief had said Government?s focus should be moved from punishing drug users to tackling the drug dealers and that first time cannabis possession offences should be dealt with as a health issue needing treatment rather than punishment.

But Mr. Burgess said: ?What he?s missing here is if there were no users there would be no pushers. The drug trade is no different from any other business ? supply and demand dictate activity.?

He asked how the drug would reach its customers. ?Are we going to go into the farming business and replace our lilies with marijuana??

There had been concern for some time about marijuana being a gateway drug and legalising it would encourage its use believes Mr. Burgess.

?That can?t be the way any Government wants to go.?

Concerns over whether Mr. Perinchief was the right person for the drugs? post because of his previous business dealings selling alcohol had proved correct said Mr. Burgess.

?We seem to be heading towards the fox guarding the hen house, that?s never been a good thing.?

Mr. Perinchief had said the current drug law which punishes people for possessing small amounts of cannabis had hit black males hard by criminalising them and stopping them from going to the States to work and study.

But Mr. Burgess said instead of putting forward a set of initiatives to allow black males to take their rightful place in society by encouraging them to get education to help enter trades and professions, Government was simply making drugs more available. ?This is where the UBP and PLP differ. This is the proverbial fork in the road.?

Mr. Burgess said he feared the courts would now take their cue from Government and start taking a softer line, even before the proposal becomes official policy. The policy shift suggested by Mr. Perinchief has yet to get Cabinet approval.

Former Police Narcotics head Larry Smith also condemned the potential policy change saying there was ample evidence that cannabis is harmful.

He noted the drug could become addictive and increase the risk of chronic cough, bronchitis and emphysema while also increasing the risk of cancer of the head, neck and lungs.

Memory and learning skills are also impaired while the immediate effects adversely affect short-term memory, judgement, co-ordination and balance while the heart rate speeds up massively ? even doubling in some cases. Supt. Smith stressed he was not speaking in an official capacity but a personal one, having travelled through the Caribbean attending drugs commanders conferences.

?There is absolutely nothing soft about cannabis. It?s very harmful.?

Assertions that Bermuda needed to join the rest of the world, including Europe and the Caribbean, by liberalising its laws also grated with Supt. Smith who said Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad did not take such an approach despite massive availability of the locally grown drug.

The fact that the United States barred foreigners with minor drug convictions showed the US was sticking to a tough line said Supt. Smith.

Europe had taken a more relaxed line because they were concentrating on battling cocaine, crack and heroin, he said, because cannabis use was less of an issue.