Bermuda, particularly among youngsters, underscored the need to implement a national drug strategy immediately.

"A large number of these young people are dying and those who are not are finding themselves ravaged as victims of drug abuse,'' said Sen. Jerome Dill (UBP), beginning the debate on Dr. David Archibald's "Proposal for a National Drug Strategy for Bermuda'' in the Upper House.

Explaining that Government held off discussing the report in the Senate soon after the House of Assembly debate on the subject to allow "as much input from the public as possible,'' Sen. Dill stressed the report would not simply sit on a shelf to collect dust.

"There is a need for the strategy because young people who should be coming into their own as far as making contributions to their families and country are not doing so,'' he said, citing figures in the report dealing with alcohol use among young people.

At least four out of every 10 students are using drugs by the age of 12, according to the lengthy report, which as a result of hundreds of interviews, meetings, task force reports, and deliberations of a committee of 26 consultants, made dozens of recommendations on how the Island should deal with its drug and alcohol problems.

In the case of alcohol, one third have used it by the age of 10 and six of every 10 by the age of 12.

"These are absolutely shocking statistics,'' Sen. Dill said, also noting that in 1990 about $22 million worth of cocaine, $37 million worth of cannabis, and $8 million worth of heroin was imported.

"The human cost and economic cost of drug abuse cannot be sustained in Bermuda,'' he said. "It costs millions when one thinks of the absenteeism due to alcohol and drugs. Work ethics are not what they should be due to drugs.

The number who have died of AIDS due to drugs -- all these stress why it is imperative that this strategy be acted on.'' Sen. Dill said next to the recommendation for a National Drug Authority to coordinate and oversee the entire strategy, "The Door'' concept was one of the most important points in the proposal relating to young people.

The Door is a multi-faceted centre for young people which will offer a wide range of programmes and services, from sex and drug counselling to legal, educational, and vocational counselling.

Sen. Dill also praised the recommendations dealing with rehabilitation treatment for addicts.

"We need to adopt this totally new approach when dealing with the victims,'' he said, adding that the "lock them up and throw away the key'' approach recommended in the 1985 Royal Commission "is adequate when dealing with drug importers and traffickers.'' He said Government also embraced the report's recommendations that the Royal Commission's background paper on race relations be given "immediate priority''; that Bermuda's leadership should address the issue of race openly and honestly; and that employment practices regarding race should be closely monitored.

He also pointed out that parts of the strategy are already in action.

Banker Mr. Alastair MacDonald has been appointed chairman of the interim drugs authority committee; work has begun on the Drug Authority's 2,500-feet office space at Global House on Church Street and is scheduled to be completed in July, he said.

While complimenting Sen. Dill on his "very capable'' presentation and agreeing that the report was a "valuable document,'' Opposition Leader in the Senate Sen. Alex Scott said there was a significant need to "localise'' the strategy.

Sen. Scott expressed concern that the report's summary resembled the summary of Canada's National Drug Strategy.

"With all due respect to Dr. Archibald, consultants borrow your watch and charge you for telling the time,'' he said.

"It is important that there be a local solution. That's why the Opposition did not jump into the political bed (with Government), so that we could be vigilant and capable of making useful input. We think the real national effort is in danger of being frustrated if Government continues to ignore very important input which the Opposition wishes to make.'' Sen. Scott said despite suggestions that the PLP does not have a drug strategy, PLP members "have participated to a large extent with SAD (Sandys Against Drugs) and the Friswell's Hill United Group.

"Those strategies will prove in time to be productive and local models of how Bermuda can come to terms with drug abuse,'' he said.

Calling Dr. Archibald's report a "scatter-shot approach'' to the drug problem, Sen. Scott said Bermuda was small enough to attack the problem at the neighbourhood level.

And he said there were capable Bermudians, particularly in Social Services, who could form Bermuda's own drug research department, rather than bringing in outside consultants.

"If we are to localise the remedy, surely we should have local data being fed into the matrix that will be servicing this local authority,'' Sen. Scott said.

Sen. Scott said while The Door was an "ideal or ready solution,'' there were churches, schools and clubs which have facilities that can be used for services and programmes for youngsters.

"This will draw clubs, churches and schools into the drug strategy,'' he said. "It is important that we use our local cultural traits in this one because it is a local problem. Young people are dying. They may not be able to wait for your Door to open.'' Sen. Scott said there was definitely a correlation between substance abuse and racial prejudice.

"We better seriously accept the notion that to cure our racial ills is to address our ills of substance abuse and vice versa.'' Since there was no way of getting away from Bermuda's "racial malaise,'' other than leaving the Island "which is becoming expensive,'' he said the issue must be tackled.

Independent Sen. Joe Johnson called the report "a call for action that can be used as a catalyst to bring private and public organisations together.'' "This drug strategy tells us we are only going to be successful if we have a coming together of the community,'' he said. "At no time has it been more important that that message be heeded.'' He said the Employee Assistance Programme was one major example of an organisation helping members of the public.

Noting that 91 companies use the EAP to assist some 10,000 employees and their relatives, Sen. Johnson said: "Businesses in this Island together with labour and unions must do as much as possible to ensure that we have drug-free work places.'' He also encouraged businesses to "do their further part in carrying out recommendations'' in the report and to develop an alcohol and substance abuse policy.

Youth and Sports Minister Sen. Pamela Gordon said she was concerned the current system tended to unnecessarily make criminals of Bermuda's youth.

Community service should be favoured over jail terms for young offenders. The foolishness of youth too often "becomes a stigma carried through life. That must be changed.'' Bermuda should try to reach an agreement with the US Government, she said, which blacklists drug offenders, preventing them from entering the US. Some compromise could be sought that would allow those convicted while they were under 21 to go abroad to school.

She said Government was actively working on a system to replace Police with civilian prosecutors in Magistrates' courts as recommended by the Drug Strategy proposals. "There's been this natural antagonism between Police and our young people,'' she said.

She regretted the declining involvement of young people in churches, but had been told that church elders were not interested in programmes that young people wanted to put on.

Sen. Trevor Woolridge (PLP) called for total community involvement and commitment.

"If the Progressive Labour Party and the United Bermuda Party came up from the table in total agreement ... it would not eliminate the scourge of drugs in our community. We can agree all day long but it will not eliminate it.

"We must also hold accountable the people of Bermuda, because it is them also who must assume responsibility for helping to rid this country of drugs.

Ordinary persons can't just say: Government ought to do something.

"We must all assume responsibility. There are persons who are aware that their children are involved in misuse of drugs, either by using or by selling, and they turn a blind eye. That must stop.'' As a clergyman, he said he recognised that the clergy had an important responsibility that it had not fulfilled.

Sen. Woolridge also expressed regret that community drug movements like ORSHAD in Warwick and SAD in Sandys had not spread throughout the Island. Sen. Norma Astwood (Ind.) said Bermuda was sometimes viewed as a "money-making machine.'' In that environment, she said, some young people sought to "fulfil their aspirations'' through drug dealing.

Proper research and "needs assessments'' needed to be done before embarking on any programmes, and the research needed to be done by skilled and qualified people.

Sen. Maxwell Burgess (UBP) said the $689 million reportedly earned annually in the local drug trade was equal to 20 percent of the Government's annual budget, and about half the budget of Education and Social Services.

Improving the self-esteem of young people was an important step in tackling drug abuse, and to that end Government needed to get on with its planned changes to the education system.

Sen. Wendell Hollis (UBP) said Bermuda's drug problem was hardly unique, and countries around the world have searched for answers -- from the death penalty in Malaysia to the free-for-all in Switzerland's "Needle Park.'' "We have seen lives lost in this country, but we also have to recognise that we have seen lives saved . .. people who we are proud to have as our friends.'' Sen. Ira Philip (PLP) defended his party's refusal to be involved in the Drug Strategy's earlier stages. The Opposition did not believe it should "hop into bed'' with the UBP whenever the UBP desired it.

But the Drug Strategy was "a good one as far as it goes.'' He admired its breadth and scope, but said it wasn't "as deep as it could be.'' Senate Leader Sen. Michael Winfield stressed that public feedback was needed and wanted. That was why sponsorship was found to have the entire report published in The Royal Gazette .

It was not a Government report, he said, nor a report solely by Dr. Archibald.

It was a report compiled through the work of dozens of people. Implying as Sen. Scott did that the work was copied from the Canadian strategy, just because similar solutions were suggested, was a disservice to them all.

Sen. Winfield agreed with Sen. Woolridge that the strategy would only work with public commitment and involvement. And he agreed with Sen. Scott that "time is not on our side, that people are dying now.'' Work is already going on, he said, and legislation is being drafted.

Sen. Winfield also agreed with Sen. Woolridge that the Island's churches should be involved in the fight against drug abuse. But he said no Bermudian should "point a finger and say it's your job. It's all of our jobs,'' he said.

Senate president the Hon. Albert Jackson said he believed Senators had all recognised drug abuse was a very serious problem in Bermuda.

He agreed with the Opposition that the approach to the problem "must be right.'' "We have come too far along the way to make any serious mistakes. We must present a united front.'' In closing the debate, Sen. Dill said he was "extremely gratified'' to see the spirit in which it was conducted.

And responding to the Opposition's concern that in Bermuda's proposal there were five "identical'' points to Canada's drugs proposal, Sen. Dill said it was "not surprising.'' He said Canada's strategy for demand reduction was an internationally referred to model on which many countries had based their own strategies for fighting drugs.