placed on the US stop list is, like the rest of his report, eminently sane and sensible for Bermuda. However, Bermudians should understand that the ban is not something which Bermuda can change itself since the decisions rest with the United States. It is an area where Bermuda is at the mercy of the giant friend to the west and we cannot simply say, as we might like to, that the ban no longer exists.

However, the ban is a very severe extra punishment for Bermudians who might be caught with a small amount of drugs, so small that it might not even take them to court in many states of the United States. We understand that the United States does not want to admit difficult criminals from other countries and there is no reason why it should do so. No country wants to do that and Bermuda itself maintains a stop list. But there is certainly a difference between excluding major criminals and excluding people apprehended with small amounts of marijuana.

The impact of the American regulation on a growing number of Bermudians is enormous. This regulation falls most heavily on young blacks, especially young black men, which is exactly the situation Bermuda must move to avoid. A young person with a conviction, unless given an exemption by the United States Consulate and there are exemptions, becomes, literally, chained to The Rock.

We know that over the years a number of representatives of the United States in Bermuda have been sympathetic but have been unable to lift the ban. As Judge Tumim said, "It makes him (the offender) a virtual prisoner in Bermuda.

He cannot go, in particular for tertiary education, to the US or the Caribbean.'' That is punishment which we think exceeds the magnitude of the offence.

This is not to condone drug use but it is to point out that exclusion from North America too greatly magnifies the penalty.

We know that representations over the ban have been made in the past and that, as a result, exceptions are now made. However we think this is an issue which should receive priority and might well be taken up again with the new Clinton administration and with the representative appointed as the new United States Consul General in Bermuda. It may well be that the Democrats are more liberal and more sympathetic to problems of this kind.

Young Bermudians do not always understand that the regulation is a United States matter and sometimes blame Bermuda when they cannot travel. Bermuda's young already feel that they live in an unnecessarily restrictive society and this kind of ban only increases their ire. A young Bermudian who cannot go away to college because he made a mistake with a small quantity of marijuana and has now learned his lesson is going to be angry. In many places in the United States today small quantities of marijuana are not even an offence and when that results in young people being deprived of an education it is excessive punishment.