Bermuda Democratic Alliance leader Craig Cannonier yesterday told how his father's drug addiction ripped his family apart — and argued decriminalisation should be far from the forefront of Bermuda's agenda.

Legay Cannonier, a former Cup Match cricketer, turned to marijuana when he felt squeezed out by society, his son told The Royal Gazette.

He graduated to LSD and subjected his young children to extreme mood swings: painting the house black, burning furniture and fighting with Police officers in his home.

The BDA leader said to stop today's young black men going the same way, they need more opportunities through innovative business plans — and that decriminalising cannabis would not solve their problems.

"I grew up in a home that was torn apart by the scourge of drugs," Mr. Cannonier said yesterday.

"I had a father who was a drug addict and I watched as he went from weed to hard drugs and how it destroyed not his life only but my mother's life, my sister's life, my life and my brother's life.

"It's a personal issue with me. I know what it means to be in a house when you have got a man sitting there so high he has put all the knives on the table, howling like a hyena, he's burnt half the furniture in the house, he's burnt the family pictures.

"This is my father, a man I look up to. All of that was through the introduction of weed, which took him to other places.

"I was a kid of seven watching my father, through the scourge of drugs, go from being a respectable, intelligent man in the community to being locked up every five minutes, thrown in mental institutes every couple of weeks with no solution in sight.

"I know what it means to be sitting in the car, watching my father drive through Court Street looking for his next fix.

"My mother cried at night. She was in love with a man who was depressed because he couldn't find ways to express himself and so he turned to drugs."

Mr. Cannonier said he was saved from following his father's life path because his mother, helped by the support of the St. David's community, sent him away to school at 14.

His father, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, died around six years ago. The Alliance leader said he was an intelligent man but hit a dead end because Bermuda provided him no opportunities; and like many young Bermudian men, he turned to something illicit.

Earlier this week, lawyer Charles Richardson, who hopes to be a Progressive Labour Party candidate at the next General Election, said most Bermudians would support decriminalising small amounts of cannabis for personal use.

However, Mr. Cannonier argued debate on the issue could stir disharmony, saying those from a more traditional background would likely oppose relaxing drugs laws; as would the church.

He said: "These are issues right now that are going to cause more division in the Country rather than bring people together.

"We need people thinking this completely through and not just making knee-jerk statements.

"The community must come together to support our young people, especially young black men, to ensure that they do not become another statistic.

"We don't know how many Legay Cannoniers are out there we are going to lose if we don't get our communities together.

"Let's look at creating opportunities for those kids that are lost. Don't bring up a controversial issue just because it's a cliché. This is about the future of a country."

He said instead of relying on tourism and international business, Bermuda needs new ideas such as setting up a world-renowned university like some Caribbean islands have, turning St. George's into a waterfront capital, or making the Island the hedge fund capital of the world.

The BDA, he said, has been developing such suggestions in caucus.