prescription of heroin to addicts.

And he has pledged to boycott compulsory drugs testing for MPs, passed on Friday, to draw attention to the futility of the current war.

Mr. Robinson said it was inevitable that young people would experiment with drugs because of the breakdown of the family and said it was better they used soft drugs than hard ones.

He stopped short of urging the decriminalisation of marijuana but said it was time to end the practice of putting young people on the stop list for marijuana use.

He said: "The whole thing swirls in a storm of drug war propaganda. Young people will experiment with drugs. Let's be realistic.

"We live in an environment where they are going to come across drugs. Do you want them to experiment with heroin, crack and cocaine, or marijuana? "I don't want my child to experiment with any drug but children will experiment with drugs. If you have a choice surely you want them to experiment with soft drugs?'' He said Police patted themselves on the back for seizing marijuana when harder drugs were becoming more readily available.

He said: "It's not a good situation at all.'' Mr. Robinson estimated Bermuda had about 500 heroin addicts but he said methadone treatment was expensive and did not work as it merely replaced heroin addiction with methadone addiction.

He said trials all over the world had shown that heroin addiction could be controlled and eventually reduced by giving addicts controlled doses.

He said: "Addicts take heroin under clinical conditions. Doctors prescribe it and give a determined dose.

"Let's go for the jugular. You don't want some fool on a street corner prescribing drugs.'' He said addicts who were clinically prescribed heroin could get on with their lives and hold down jobs because they were no longer tempted to resort to crime such as prostitution to fund their addiction.

Full debate: Page 5 MP calls for clinical heroin prescription And the practice would remove addicts from the AIDS risks involved in sharing needles, said the St. George's MP.

Such a policy would see the number of addicts decline, said Mr. Robinson.

"If you have 500 addicts you could get it down to five but you have to wait,'' he said.

He said around five percent of addicts spontaneously came off each year while natural attrition would also reduce the number of addicts.

He said: "You wait for people to die.'' Mr. Robinson said he had hit on this theory after reading "oodles of research papers'' while there were five books he was "fairly familiar with''.

Asked what would stop pushers targeting new users and pushing the number of addicts up again, Mr. Robinson said he had "no idea''.

He described the UBP's motion, passed on Friday, requiring MPs to undergo mandatory random drug testing as "a stunt'' which would do nothing to end Bermuda's very serious drug problem.

He said: "I will not submit myself to drug testing in protest.

But he added: "I will be sober on drugs. I won't be taking any drugs, no, I don't take marijuana. I drink wine in moderation.'' Despite referring to the medical benefits of marijuana use in his House of Assembly speech, Mr. Robinson said he was against its legalisation as he did not want to encourage any drug use.

But he added: "I am for not making the penalties for marijuana use worse than those of heroin and cocaine.'' Mr. Robinson said in his House of Assembly speech that approximately one in ten Bermudians used or had used marijuana but there was no evidence to say that it led to the use of harder drugs.

He said: "If people graduated from softer drug to harder drug, we would expect to see a huge number of hard drugs users in this country, which simply isn't the case.'' "This measure will do nothing to reduce the suffering that attends drug use in Bermuda... and I don't see how I can support it.

"It's a typical drug war motion. We know the full, miserable situation where it's clear 30 years on we need to change the focus and rationale if we are going to do anything.'' Calling for an end to the travel ban for those caught using marijuana he later told the Royal Gazette : "Kids in their 20s need to get out of the country to fulfil their potential but it's terrible when the law on drugs does more damage than the drugs themselves.'' However Mr. Robinson admitted his speech had not gone down well with some on his own side.

"Most people are brought up on the drugs war and are on the side with the drugs war. At least I am starting the dialogue.'' He said the current drug war was logistically impossible and would need the lion's share of the Government's Budget to successfully eradicate drugs.

The United Bermuda Party's John Barritt said: "Full marks to him for trying to read up on the issue.'' But he added: "It seems to me that a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.'' He said it would have been wiser for Mr. Robinson to put his ideas to the National Drug Commission.

He said: "It would have been a lot better to share with the people who are expert in the area to see all the possible consequences.

"It gives the impression that the Government is ambivalent on drugs, and particularly illicit drugs. It seems entirely the wrong message to convey.'' Mr. Robinson's speech was also attacked by Shadow Education Minister Tim Smith who told the House he had heard of an eight-year-old girl who was addicted to heroin.

He accused Mr. Robinson of ambivalence on the narcotics issue. He said: "This plays to the tune of the drug dealers.'' Protest: Delaey Robinson