her Government will help people to get treatment for addiction. "We can't force you to accept treatment, but we will use every form of encouragement to steer you to rehabilitation,'' she has said.

Premier Gordon has told Bermuda that "the crackdown on drug dealing has only just begun''.

"We will, however, hold you responsible for your criminal behaviour. We will hold you responsible for hurting Bermuda's children and families, whether they be yours or someone else's.'' Offering rehabilitation, either here or abroad, to those people addicted to drugs is admirable. However a recovering addict's problem does not stop at the end of rehabilitation. People trying to get their lives back together need to work. If they cannot make a living or have a great deal of time to waste, they are likely to return quickly to their old habit. The same thing is true of people being released from prison, many of whom are there because drugs or alcohol contributed to their offences.

People in recovery have often burned a great many bridges and find it very difficult to get jobs, especially in a small place where their problems are known. Without work, their recovery is immediately threatened.

Yet there is another factor. Many of the people with drug habits are without training and have been ill-prepared to find work. When this newspaper interviews people about drugs, very often the complaint is that they are involved in drugs because they can't find work. Yet, what can they do? Often very little.

Yet there are well paid jobs in Bermuda which many of them could do if they were given some training.

There is general recognition these days that closing the Bermuda Technical Institute was a grave mistake. We are importing people to fill jobs for which Bermudians could have been trained at the Technical Institute.

We think that, as a matter of urgency, Government should do a survey to identify those areas where there are jobs for which Bermudians can be trained quickly. It should then approach people in recovery, those who are leaving prison, the "wall sitters'' and those who complain that they want a job but can't find one, and offer them training.

Bermuda College has technical training facilities which we are told are underutilised. Use those facilities and, if necessary, bring in teachers to do crash courses. For those who do not want technical courses, teach them how to be salespeople. Teach them to be good messengers or good switchboard operators. Teach them to drive heavy equipment. Teach them to be cycle mechanics. Teach them whatever the survey indicates is needed. In the end, assist them in getting a job.

We think that Operation Cleansweep and the crackdown on drug dealing have provided an ideal opportunity to move people into productive pursuits. We must stop thinking "they don't want to work'' and put them to work.