Children as young as three are being taught about the dangers of drugs, according to the new Director of the Department for National Drug Control Joanne Dean.

Ms Dean, who was appointed as the Director of the DNDC earlier this week, credits the rise in gang and gun crimes to the drug trade.

She also revealed that a new co-ed drug addiction treatment centre was being built in Dockyard and that the number of people taking part in heroin treatment programmes have almost doubled in the last six years.

Now in an attempt to prevent drug abuse and the associated anti-social behaviours, the DNDC is to use early education as a tool for prevention, in accordance with guidelines laid out in the current National Drug Control Master Plan.

According to Ms Dean the DNDC is split into three sections prevention, research and treatment; all working to implement the goals of the plan.

The prevention section of the DNDC is responsible for things like education and anti-drug advertising and has adopted a drug education programme from the US called Al's Pals.

Al's Pals is aimed at helping students aged three to eight understand self-control, develop problem solving and social-emotional skills, as well as healthy decision making.

The programme is designed to appeal to younger children and utilises resources like puppets and music to keep them interested.

"We have educated all of the public pre-schools and we have just had an information session with the private sector pre-schools.

"The kids love it and it has been well received. We want to meet the needs of the pre-schools and then go up to primary one and primary two. Our goal is to make sure that we have age appropriate intervention and prevention activities in all the age groups."

Ms Dean said the research section of the DNDC was responsible for providing information to assist the treatment and prevention sections. It has recently begun conducting a survey of 1,500 households that will attempt to measure the consumption of drugs, tobacco and alcohol in Bermuda.

The treatment section is responsible for addressing the gaps in services on the Island, ensuring quality service and looking at accreditation certification and setting standards. The treatment section has introduced an intensive nine to 12-month drug treatment programme at the prison farm.

"The programme at the prison farm works as a therapeutic community with participants relying on each other for help. It addresses drug and alcohol abuse as well as the anti-social behaviours that go along with it," said Ms Dean.

Due to a lack of beds at the men's and women's addiction treatment centres, a co-ed treatment facility is in the process of being built in Dockyard. The treatment facility will significantly increase the number of beds for both men and women and, according to Ms Dean, will be opened in approximately 18 months.

Ms Dean said she believes that drugs play a major part in gang activity and gun crime in Bermuda.

"We are sure that drugs are involved with the violence in some way. Whether it is precipitating violent behaviour or drug dealing or abuse, it is tearing this community apart," she said.

"Drugs and crime are our biggest challenge. It is as if the drug problem in Bermuda has been festering for a long time and now the cap has been blown off. We are seeing what has been going on for a while that we didn't really want to see."

She added that the Island has seen a drastic increase in heroin use since she has been with the DNDC. Ms Dean says participation in heroin treatment programmes have nearly doubled over the past six years with 80 people utilising the service in 2003 and up to 140 in 2009.

"We have a challenge on our hands but the best way we see to approach this is a balance between prevention, treatment and demand reduction strategies along with working with the police and customs to try and deal with this.

"We need to involve the whole community. If we really want to address this problem, people in the community will need to break the trend of silence and start cooperating with the Police."

Ms Dean has been working in the field of addiction treatment in Bermuda for the last 19 years.

Starting as a nurse at the former St. Brendan's Hospital she eventually headed up the Turning Point treatment programme before she moved to the DNDC.

She joined the DNDC in 2003 as the official treatment officer. When the role of director was made available she seized the opportunity.

"This is something that I have always wanted to do and something I believe in," said Ms Dean.