Minister of Health and Family Services Patrice Minors said that her trip to the UK last week, sponsored by London?s Foreign and Commonwealth Office showed her ?a clear collaborative effort taking place between the UK Government, the various agencies, Police and Prisons.?

Mrs. Minors said the most interesting example of this collaboration was if anyone was charged with any matter, Police determined whether a drug assessment was needed.

?As soon as the suspects are inside the Police Station, they were identified, before the point of arrest, to see if they had substance abuse problems?, she said. ?A case manager starts from the moment the person enters into the Police environment assisting them to their point of change?.

When asked if something similar could be brought about in Bermuda she said: ?This warrants a dialogue between the Ministry of Labour and Home affairs and the Ministry of Health and Family services to see how it would work?.

This dialogue literally meant she would speak Randy Horton, the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs she said.

Mrs. Minors added that for certain domestic violence and child abuse cases, Sgt. Mark Clark who worked for the Department of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse with the Police Service would be the case worker, but that no such case worker was available for substance abuse related offences.

Police spokesman Dwayne Caines told that for certain crimes like housebreaking that were related to substance abuse problems, a person could make special applications to have their case heard in Drug Court. He said that addicts have to want help, and that the Alternatives To Incarceration system (ATI) offered further avenues suspects could venture down.

ATI began a year ago as a way of putting people into treatment programmes instead of prison. Those convicted of very minor non-drug crimes could do community service. Addicts who complied with probation, drug-tests and employment conditions would have their criminal records wiped clean as they stayed clean from drugs.

?Greater monitoring works extremely well with young people. It can bring about a change at an earlier stage,? Mrs. Minors said.