should demonstrate how deeply it permeates Bermuda society and how great a challenge those on the front lines of the "drugs war'' have in trying to eradicate it.

While some of the claims of former drugs dealers -- that lawyers, bankers and politicians are involved in the trade -- may, at first glance, seem dubious, most Bermudians must be aware by now that drug abuse of some kind affects every family. If they are not, they should read the whole series again.

This newspaper has received some calls from well-meaning people questioning why some of the apparent benefits of the trade -- primarily big money -- have been highlighted. Equally, descriptions of the high that a person can get from a particular drug have received some criticism.

This has apparently been motivated by the idea that publicising the massive profits dealers can make will encourage others to go into the trade or describing the pleasures -- albeit short-lived -- of drug use will encourage others to experiment.

The question that these people should ask themselves is how can Bermuda possibly solve the problem if it does not understand why people take drugs and sell them in the first place? Pretending that you cannot make money, or that illegal drugs don't make you feel good, would be futile, akin to burying one's head in the sand. Our series, researched and written by reporter Matthew Taylor, shows that is highly unlikely.

Bermuda needs to accept that it is facing, in Focus director Sandy Butterfield's words, a "massive'' problem. Any solutions, to be meaningful, will have to be equally massive, requiring a zero tolerance approach among all involved with drug users and sellers.

As the series showed, zero tolerance is not a "lock them away and throw away the key'' approach. For users, drugs counselling is central to solving the problem. Widespread public awareness programmes are also key, especially for the young. For dealers, harsh deterrents are a solution if they make the current financial incentives less appealing.

These programmes can work, especially when the whole community gets involved.

Horror stories, like the crack users who sold drugs with their baby in the same room, should be a wake-up call to those who think this problem does not affect the innocent.

But it can only work with total community involvement. This means teaching those who may be curious about drugs that "experimentation'' is not worth it, helping users to get off drugs and making it so difficult and unappealing for drug dealers to ply their trade that they give up.

It also means persuading those who we know are abusing drugs (including alcohol) to get help, helping those who are clean to stay that way and turning in sellers of illegal narcotics to Police.