The National Drug Commission faces a cash crunch in next month?s Budget as it battles to replace lost charity dollars.

Former partner the Council Partners Charitable Trust has closed its operations meaning new money must be found for organisations which the pair used to jointly fund on a 50/50 basis.

NDC board chairman Rev. Andrew Doughty said the upcoming Budget would be crucial.

?One of the criticisms is that we have been very costly and ineffective in the eyes of our critics but the grant we get from Government is inadequate to address all the issues out there.

?If we didn?t have the NDC spending this money the costs in real terms to the whole community would be much higher than the $3.8 million.

?I would say we are just addressing the minimum of what needs to be done. Government and the community needs to invest a lot more in this work.?

NDC CEO Don Philip said: ?It?s our opinion the new Minister would like to provide the NDC with sufficient funds to do just that.?

Rev. Doughty said the NDC was looking at fundraising campaigns which it was allowed to do under law but he said: ?Fundraising programmes are highly specialised and time consuming.

?There is no doubt agencies will have to do fundraising campaigns.

?We are trying to support all agencies that request funds.?

Asked about this year?s Budget he said: ?It?s very crucial.?

The NDC says it is keen to keep a tight rein on agencies it supports. Despite the financial worries the semi-government body is hoping to set up a women?s rehabilitation centre for around eight to ten women.

Fair Haven, which traditionally has done this service, has just a few clients while it reorganises.

The NDC does not want to replace Fair Havens but wants an alternative to be run along the same lines of island drug retreat Camp Spirit, in which male clients spent 90 days cut off from the outside world and its temptations to work on their problems.

Dr. Philip said: ?There has been a gap in female residential treatment, in future we hope there will be two places.?

He said finding another small island location like Darrell?s Island which holds Camp Spirit was most unlikely but he said beginning treatment at a mainland location could be possible by the end of the year.

Rev. Doughty said: ?We believe there should be a number of therapeutic communities here in Bermuda, which look after particular groups.

?We want to see them as a long-term network.?

Sending clients overseas should be a last resort, said Rev. Doughty, because such clients did not have a support network when they returned.

Clients in local programmes could draw strength from others at follow-up Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

Meanwhile, the NDC is pushing ahead with the Communities That Care project.

After a pilot project in St. Monica?s Mission it was now working with Bailey?s Bay residents, but calls to stamp out drug hotspots were coming in from across the Island, said Dr. Philip.

The project links Police, residents, the NDC and Government to tackle pushers.

Rev. Doughty said his church St. Mary?s in Warwick was situated in such an area and he was ?concerned, angered but also intimidated by some of the things I see?. Infrastructure issues were often crucial such as putting in lighting and removing walls where people gather.