recovering addicts up and running by the end of the year.

Chief executive officer Eugenie Simmons said this week that the NDC is examining two sites -- one on the Base lands and another at Dockyard -- for a drug recovery facility.

She added it was hoped to have the new centre, with a capacity for up to 50 men and women, up and running by the end of the year.

Ms Simmons said: "The base site was made available to us earlier. There is an alternative in the Dockyard area, which is more readily available for our intended use.'' She said statistics showed that aftercare programmes massively increased the chance of success after in-patient treatment for substance abuse.

Ms Simmons said: "Whether people have local out-patient care or whether they are sent abroad, they need an aftercare facility and aftercare programmes to allow them to reintegrate into society. Without that the chance of success is minimal.'' She added studies had shown a two-year aftercare programme increased the number of people who successfully avoid abuse to 95 percent, but that those without aftercare had only a 25 to 30 percent chance of staying off drugs or alcohol.

Ms Simmons made the comments at a scholarship presentation for three people who are going abroad for training as chemical dependency counsellors.

One of the recipients, Norman Beecher, called for the establishment of a halfway house in Bermuda.

"I would like to see some sort of halfway house set up in Bermuda because that's where I would like to utilise my skills,'' he said. "I would also like a good, solid primary care facility, but it's mainly the halfway house we need.

"At the moment we are sending people away for the primary treatment, but there's nothing for them to come back to and that is desperately needed.'' Mr. Beecher, Eudora Browne-Zuill and Margaret Swift each received $10,000 scholarships from the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse so they can gain certificates in chemical dependency counselling.

All three will study at Hazelden in Minnesota, an internationally-recognised training centre offering academic and clinical experience in the substance abuse field.

Mr. Beecher, a recovered alcoholic, left his job as projects manager with Bermuda Glass Company to take up the scholarship. Ms Browne-Zuill has recently completed an MA in Criminology at the University of Toronto. She also holds a BA (Hons) Sociology and Psychology from the same university and has worked with the Addiction Research Foundation and the John Howard Society in Toronto.

Ms Swift is coordinator of the Parent to Parent programmme with PRIDE Bermuda, a counsellor at Transitions and presenter of TV's Youth Talk. She has an MSc in Rehabilitation Counselling from Northeastern University and a BSc in Education.