Bermuda should legalise marijuana, bring in a minimum wage and spend more money supporting talented young athletes and musicians, MPs were told.

Graeme Outerbridge and Ras Mykkal two citizens concerned about the Island’s spiralling crime rate gave presentations on Thursday to the joint parliamentary select committee looking into the causes of gun and gang violence.

Mr Outerbridge, a former National Liberal Party chairman and Corporation of Hamilton councillor, said Bermuda’s problems were all related to hope, family and community. “I think a lot of us have lost hope, a lot of families are in disarray and the community is broken apart,” he added.

He suggested the Island’s reliance on capitalism failed to take into account social problems and that those problems would escalate “until we get an economic system that has a social conscience too and not just a bottom line”.

He said locals were not able to survive on the poor wages on offer in many jobs and that a minimum wage of $20 an hour should be made law. “I don’t think too many young Bermudians coming out of school are going to want to work for $5 an hour,” he said.

Mr Outerbridge also recommended: “Marijuana should be legalised. It’s use in Bermuda is as much as alcohol. We are not going to stop drugs through law enforcement.”

He recommended that members of the bipartisan committee read the Swiss Council’s recommendations on decriminalising cannabis. And he called for elected parish councils, which would work in conjunction with community police and social welfare officers, and after-school programmes in the public and private education system.

Photographer and recording artist Mr Mykkal started his presentation with lyrics from one of his own songs ‘The Streets are Bloody’ which suggests leadership and integrity have disappeared in the clamour for financial gain.

He said Government was not doing enough to foster the sporting and musical talents of young people, comparing Bermuda unfavourably to Jamaica. “Every one of those boys involved in gangs, drugs and violence in Bermuda are very talented young men but the educational system and the social infrastructure are not designed for them to make the best contribution to their life or the life of their country,” he said. “Bermuda has no infrastructure for our performing artists or athletes. There is no national pride here. We have no idea what it feels like to be proud of ourselves.”

Mr Mykkal said sports and music were treated as recreational pursuits, rather than as disciplines needing state support. And he spoke of his own frustration at furthering his musical career. “I’m regarded as one of the top dub poets in the world,” he claimed. “But the world doesn’t know me. I’m not touring. There are no managers here, no agents. I can’t even get on a local show. I have difficulty getting my songs played on the radio.”

l Anyone interested in making a presentation to the committee should telephone Carolyn Todd on 292-7408 or email ctodd@gov.bm.