The Rev. Andrew Doughty, the Rector of St. Mary's Anglican Church in Warwick, has been appointed chairman of the National Drug Commission.

In a press statement yesterday, Mr. Doughty said the agency is setting its sights on drug criminals.

"Despite all perceptions and reports, the work of the National Drug Commission and its partner agencies has never ceased," he said.

"We continue to work through the difficulties facing us and to work towards a strategic plan which, when fully accepted by our leaders, and by our people, will enable us to take the fight to those that profit from the suffering of others."

Mr. Doughty, 46, comes to the helm of the anti-drug agency after having sat on its board since 1998.

In 2001 he was appointed deputy chairman and is head of the NDC Task Force which authored the new National Drug Plan.

In yesterday's statement, Mr. Doughty said that he was honoured to have been appointed.

"Our task is to continue the unceasing work against the pain and suffering caused by chemical dependencies," he is quoted as saying.

"There can be no defeatism about this task. We must continue to fight the `War on Drugs' and to win it, or our children and our grandchildren will continue to fall."

Former chairman Malcolm Butterfield had shown an "extraordinary degree of commitment and service" throughout his four year term, he continued.

Mr. Doughty also paid tribute to the NDC Board and staff who "have always shown the highest degree of professionalism, integrity and care in the work of the NDC".

The NDC, and Government's overall approach to tackling the Island' drug problems, has come under scrutiny in recent months.

Mr. Doughty, a Bermudian, was educated at Warwick Academy, Saltus Grammar School, and Bradfield College, England. He later went on to read Theology at King's College, London University, where he gained a Bachelor of Divinity degree. After a year in Calcutta, India, working with the Salvation Army and Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, he returned to the UK to study at Westcott House Theological College, Cambridge.

The father of three spent 13 years in full time parish ministry in England before returning home in 1995 where he took up the position of rector of St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church.

He has served as the Chaplain of the Bermuda Police Service and as a member of the board of the Community for Unity and Racial Equality (CURE).