of a second committee to deal with complaints about Airport searches of visitors "unnecessary''. Shadow Minister for Tourism Mr. David Allen has called the new committee a "substitute for action''. Both are, of course, correct. But there is more involved in searching visitors.

We think that the concept of airport drug searches, based on the notion of a profile, is destructive to tourism while doing very little to prevent drug importation and may well be racist and sexist in concept. The "profile'' seems to apply to younger women travelling alone, especially younger black women.

If we thought that searches by the Joint Drug Importation Squad were a significant deterrent to drug importation, we would certainly support their continuing. We think that the people who set up this backwards system may know about policing but do not know much about drugs. It is improbable that Airport strip searches make a significant impact on drug importation or drug usage and they do an enormous amount of damage to tourism. The damage searches do is not worth the small amount of drugs seized. We are not "soft on drugs'' or on importation but we do think Bermuda has to exercise some sense in this drug war. Right now we are aiming the weapons at our economy and the importers are laughing.

The drug importation squad is a unit independent from Customs, and includes Police, but "Customs'' usually gets the blame for searches. If we are to judge from angry visitor complaints, they are searched without much explanation and without apology.

No country in the world has enough money or enough policemen to stop the supply of drugs, no matter how hard they try. The solution is to be vigilant on importation but to adopt the long hard haul of stopping demand because it is counter-productive and archaic to work at curtailing supply without working on demand.

Why do we continue searching? Because Bermuda has conditioned itself when dealing with any kind of offender to accept a method of "stamp on them'' first.

As far as this new committee is concerned, it may be designed to give Government an answer it wants to hear, whatever that is. It seems to us that all that is really called- or is a chat between the Minister of Tourism and the Minister who controls both Immigration and Police. The point of the chat should be: Lay off the visitors, it's counter-productive.

When that is settled we can get down to making the Airport a more welcoming place. We have suggested before that the Airport is a visitor's very important first impression of Bermuda. The Airport is cold and impersonal and unwelcoming, even before you get first searched for drugs and then shouted at by transportation touts. Happy holidays should begin at the Airport. The Airport needs lighening up. It needs a little music, a welcome to Bermuda drink and a smile. Right now it reminds one of the waiting room to a prison or, at least, a hospital. Thus a visitor's first memory of Bermuda is a cold Airport. The last memory is an Airport head tax. That's not smart for a tourist economy.