chairman, Mr. Mansfield Brock. The urgency is clear since, at a time when teachers are discussing security devices, monitoring cameras and hiring private security firms for Bermuda's schools, surely people will understand that part of the problem in schools is drugs.

If we do not face the problem now, we will have chaos in schools, especially if Government blindly carries on with the mega schools plan. We think that facing the problem will take a concerted effort by everyone involved from the Drugs Commission to parents' groups.

This newspaper is not in favour of mandatory drugs testing of all students for any number of reasons ranging from the embarrassment caused to a casual user who is not in danger of addiction to the complicated mechanics and huge costs involved. However we do think that in situations where teachers or coaches or school counsellors have reason to suspect that a young person might have a problem with drugs, then the ability to order testing should be available. We include alcohol in drugs. Of course, young people have rights, but they do not have a right to attend school under the influence of drugs or alcohol. A teacher who suspected a physical problem and did not send a student for medical help would be seriously remiss and we think the same must hold true for drugs.

We have to protect our young people from drugs and if that involves testing in schools then so be it. We think testing should be looked on by parents and teachers as a positive step designed to identify those in need of help and to get them that help. There are people who will look at drug testing as somehow putting down our young people but we think those people are the same ones who denied there was a drug problem in the first place.

To give our students the best chance we can give them, we must be certain that the people providing them with help are properly trained. Right now there are very few properly trained people dealing with addiction and that fact must be remedied. We can only advocate that the adolescent drug counsellor proposed for Addiction Services should be properly trained and that we should not have a great deal of howling if we have to go outside Bermuda to find the right person. For far too long we have made the mistake of allowing insufficiently trained people to hang out a shingle and to practice in Bermuda. We must agree on certification standards for practice.

We can only hope that the chance Bermuda has now to progress against drugs is not hampered by political mouthings. Bermuda is behind in this war because the politicians have fought the battles with one another. This time Bermuda must make the politicians accountable for the damage they do to a national cause.