guilty to intending to supply marijuana outside Berkeley Institute. Mr.

Francis is quoted as having told defending counsel Marc Telemaque: "When I hear of people selling in the vicinity of my alma mater, or any high school for that matter, things start to happen in my head.'' Mr. Francis, of course, is correct. Every effort has to be made to keep drugs away from schools and away from other places where young people congregate. To that end there is coming legislation to create drug-free zones around schools.

There will be total exclusion zones for drug dealers. Other areas where young people gather will also be protected by exclusion zones. The new zones carry tougher fines and sentences for people caught pushing drugs within them.

We recognise the intent behind these drug-free zones and the desire to protect young people from pushers. However we have some doubts about the use of such zones. It does seem that by designating zones as "drug free'' there is a suggestion that other areas need not be "drug free''. The risk is that by creating drug free zones you suggest that it is permissible to use drugs in other areas. Surely drugs are drugs no matter where they are pushed and the opposition to drugs ought to be even-handed.

If we are to have "drug-free zones'' around schools then we also have to be a good deal more careful about such places as discos and sporting clubs where we often "turn a blind eye''. There is a perception that in Bermuda we tend to go easy on sports clubs and sporting events, probably because of the politics involved in sports clubs. Yet if drugs are associated with sport it would seem to us to make them much more attractive and acceptable.

The problem is that the constant pushing of alcohol and tobacco in such places has served to make the use of illegal drugs more acceptable. Sporting organisations which survive on their bar take have great difficulty saying to young people, "We'll swallow what we like as much as we like but you must not smoke what you like,'' especially when so many young people see marijuana as much more acceptable and much less dangerous than alcohol.

Young people see nothing wrong with it except that older people have made it illegal while continuing to drink rum. Many places are now tolerant of small amounts of marijuana and decriminalisation of small amounts for personal use is becoming a reality. Then there are the two complex questions of marijuana's medicinal properties and its religious use.

In Bermuda convicted abusers are subjected to a very difficult double jeopardy. If they are convicted of marijuana use, even use of small amounts, they are then excluded from the United States and virtually "chained to the rock''. We think the exclusion from the United States which Bermuda's Government can do nothing about is too great a penalty.

The whole area of marijuana use is fraught with problems. One thing is certain, marijuana is not going to go away and sooner rather than later Bermuda will have to make some tough decisions.