as housing.

For far too long neighbourhoods have been disrupted by the prevalence of drugs and drug abusers. This certainly seems to have been the case in Harlem Heights, Bailey's Bay, where the first building was demolished last Thursday.

Judging from the comments of neighbourhood residents, they have been suffering for some time.

One neighbour was quoted as saying, "People would come and go at all times of the day. And we were frightened to let our children out in case they stumbled across crack pipes or needles.'' That is the best argument we know of for people in drug abused neighbourhoods to say "not here, not in my neighbourhood''. If they feel they cannot do that publicly, then they can contact the confidential Police Crime Stoppers line.

People should not have to live with this kind of blight around their homes. If we are serious in thinking that our children are our greatest resource, then we cannot subject them to being kept inside for fear that they will "stumble across crack pipes or needles''. We also should not subject them to such close exposure to the drug culture. It is catching and pushers do encourage young people to use because it creates new customers.

At the demolition site on Thursday, Premier Pamela Gordon said, "People do not need to live in fear any more.'' That, of course, is good news for neighbourhoods other than Harlem Heights as the demolition continues.

However it might not be good news for the war on drugs. There are huge fortunes to be made in drugs and it is clear that the suppliers do not stop, they simply move around. Stop it in one area and it very quickly moves about and appears in another place.

The second phase of Operation Cleansweep, which was never carried out, was designed to cut off Bermuda's drug supply in the United States. It was intended to use information obtained from those arrested in Bermuda to identify the US suppliers. The US Drug Enforcement Agency was then to move against the US suppliers. However, with the going of Colin Coxall that seems to be a lost cause.

It is clear to us that the National Drugs Commission is working well and is making progress against drugs. However the public has to keep in mind the fact that it is a long and difficult process in Bermuda just as it is everywhere else. The only sure way to combat drugs is to move against the demand but that is a long process. The process is made much more difficult because young people live in a culture where their peers, their music, the stars, movies and TV so often make drugs seem acceptable, even desirable.

But there is good news and today's good news is that we are cleaning up the neighbourhoods. We now have to guard against drugs moving into other people's areas.