Bermuda is right on track when it comes to drugs prevention and treatment.

Workers in the field of alcohol and drug abuse counselling, who attended courses at a top US university this summer, claimed they returned confident Bermuda was moving in the right direction.

Mrs. Judith Burgess, a PRIDE administrator and Youth to Youth co-ordinator, said many of the suggestions made at a course on prevention strategies had already been implemented locally.

"I was really gratified to hear that what they talked about is what we're doing,'' she said.

Mrs. Burgess, Miss Margaret Swift of PRIDE and Mrs. Martha Pitman of the Employers' Assistance Programme all received scholarships from the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse to attend courses at the New Jersey Summer School of Alcohol and Drug Studies conducted by Rutgers University.

"Cyber drugs'' or the drugs of the future, family dynamics, prevention and intervention strategies were some of the topics covered.

Mrs. Burgess said that, at a conference entitled "Prevention Strategies for the Year 2,000,'' she was warned of "cyber drugs'' or drugs yet to appear on the market.

"These are man-made drugs that we don't even know about yet but that are coming onto the market.'' Drug dealers were also getting high tech, she was told, and were learning to use the information highway to their advantage. Drugs were increasingly being promoted as a "hip thing'' to kids.

"The idea is to put strategies into effect today so we don't get to the worst problems,' she said.

Such strategies, she said, could be a simple as asking shops not to sell cigarette papers.

"How many people do you know who roll their own cigarettes?'' she asked. Not many was the answer.

Another aspect of the course relevant to Bermuda, she said, was learning how to prepare young people for the heavy social drinking of North American colleges.

While Bermudian youths generally do not rival their American counterparts as heavy drinkers, they needed to be prepared for what they would experience on campuses overseas, Mrs. Burgess said.

The course also emphasised the benefits of prevention. Drug treatment programmes can cost as much as $30,000 for six months of rehabilitation abroad.

Mrs. Burgess compared this to the $5 membership fee for Youth to Youth -- a programme that teaches young people to have fun without drink, drugs or cigarettes. One woman she knew had spent more than $100,000 on rehabilitation for her son.

Executive director of CADA Mr. Gordon Johnson said training was a vital part of tackling the Island's drug and alcohol problems.

Over the years CADA has sent more than 50 professionals and volunteers for training overseas through the Alfred Gerald Smith fund which sets aside a specific sum each year for training.

"It gives them the opportunity to meet other professionals and come up with different strategies,'' he said.

Eventually he hoped to see more on-Island training by professionals who had been trained abroad.

The scholarships are awarded across the field to candidates from Montrose House, Addiction Services and the EAP among others.