I joined the PLP at the age of 16 because our working class family believed in its ideals. As a member of the powerful Pembroke Branch I had a front-row seat when political stalwarts like Dame Lois Browne Evans, Dr. Barbara Ball, Wilfred Allen, Rio Richardson, Charles Bean, Walter Robinson, R. Austin Wilson, Austin Thomas, Ottiwell Simmons and L.F. Wade, to name but a few, were present.

The political dogma and ideology made every Monday meeting hot and when I opened my mouth I received a baptism of fire! I learned a great deal about "skullduggery" and "testicular fortitude". The meetings were fierce and long. Race was an issue because their opponents were almost all white. Inside the PLP, I believe there was a genuine desire to involve everyone but due to a lack of political maturity, candidates would slip at rallies and use words that made it sound like the PLP was all about black power.

The result was consistently the same – defeat at the polls. Although those early leaders had great ideas about a national pension scheme, better education and housing etc. the electorate were frightened by the comments made by a few candidates. It took years to get to the point where all speeches had to be vetted before delivery. It made a difference and in 1998 the PLP was elected. I salute those early leaders because I also learned from them.

Although the room was filled with political luminaries there were the worker bees like Mrs. Mary Hayward, Mrs. Aurelia Burch, Mrs. Hyacinth Burgess, Ms Anne Webb, Ms Marie Richards, Mrs. Richards and Mrs. Henry, to name but a few, and they did it all. While the luminaries did a lot of talking the worker bees did all of the work. Rain blow or shine they could work a bake sale, pot luck and membership drive to get $1,000 to pay for the electricity and a political advert.

Access to big business was limited. The Party was run out of the pockets of a few members, a few generous donors and many small activities. I salute those worker bees because I also learned from them.

If you look at our newspapers many of their great speeches were recorded yet the issues remain the same. The advice they gave was sound but very often ignored. It seems that mankind is not open to advice. I recall in St. Paul AME Church, in 1970, the late Mrs. Marguerite Place stating at an annual general conference that Bermuda had a drug problem that was going to ruin the island and would start with "Mary Jane".

The church was in uproar. Most people had not heard about "Mary Jane" and while Mrs. Place, as a member of the "Women's Temperance Society", had proof, she was ignored. Her words of advice were not accepted and now we have a hurricane on our hands.

Our history has a long list of Bermudian advisors. Rev. E.B. Grant, founding pastor of The Church of God (Angle Street) preached about youth conduct. I think some people listened to him but most ignored him. Austin Thomas, as a firebrand politician with a record breaking speech in the House of Assembly, also tried his best to give advice. Some people took heart but most ignored him.

Charles Bean, also known as the Philadelphia lawyer, gave advice about saving for a rainy day and buying your own house. Some did take his advice and today are glad they did but most ignored him. We are lucky to have had Bermudian men and women of vision and we are even luckier to have heard great speeches from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X and Marcus Garvey. They all gave great advice but most of it fell on stony ground.

It seems like this is a pattern because we have even more examples in the Bible. Moses freed the people of Israel and they "took off" to the Promise Land, a journey of about two weeks. So why did it take 40 years?. If people are unable to accept and act on sound information they will bear the consequences.

I believe if the great leaders above were still our leaders today, they would speak about the issue of drugs. I recall, for example, hearing one of them say: "When the rights of the majority of society are being threatened by a minority," human rights have to be "tempered" in order to save the society. That is indeed a powerful statement that took "testicular fortitude" to say because it would mean drastic action would be taken that might restrict movement and other liberties in an effort to catch the importers and users of drugs.

So what should we do? Everyone knows that drug use can lead to an arrest and possibly getting your name on the stop list and restricting travel to the USA. If people know of this severe consequence, why do they still do it? Then we hear a hue and cry that the law should be changed.

But if you know you are likely to experience difficulty for years and years, why even try it? Not only can your life be ruined but so much time is being spent on your need to exist on a weed and when you get caught, too much time on why you cannot travel to the USA. Would it not be simpler to ignore the weed and alcohol and use your efforts to improve yourself through prayer, meditation, counselling or education so you can help others?

No, they use the substances, get caught and now we have to use loads of money for rehabilitation and we have a growing group of disgruntled people who cannot travel and so point the finger at everyone but themselves.

At a time when we need more mentors, fathers, and families who will accept the challenge like the worker bees, we cannot hide behind labels or spend too much time on dogma. We have to solve the problem and it starts with all of us being committed to being drug free and interested in having standards that will help the lives of others.

If, however, we just ignore our drug issue we will reap the consequences. I think Mrs. Marguerite Place had it right and now we are reaping and receiving a baptism of fire.

Dale Butler J.P., M.P. is the Minister of Social Rehabilitation and the author of "The Wisdom of the Codfish King"