United Bermuda Party (UBP) MPs have agreed to undergo drug testing, it was revealed in the House on Friday.

And they joined a call by the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) for mothers to turn in their children when they know they are involved in the drug trade.

During the motion to adjourn, politicians on both sides of the House of Assembly raised the alarm on the destructive impact of drugs in the community.

Labour Minister Terry Lister and ruling party backbencher Stanley Morton focussed on lost productivity and urged Bermudian mothers not to look the other way if there children are trading drugs.

“I'm appealing to mothers - stop it, stop it, stop it,” he said. “If you know your son doesn't work and he's always got lots of money, something's going on.”

He said while his Government was doing its best, with programmes like the National Training Board, “the scourge of drugs holds us all back”.

“If it's your son or nephew, turn them in. It's for the benefit of the country,” the Minister said to murmurs of approval from some in the Opposition benches.

Mr. Morton added that some women drug addicts had been subjected to “degrading behaviour” with animals, adding: “The half has never yet been told in terms of what drugs are doing to this community as a whole.”

But ruling party whip Ottiwell Simmons, who has been leading efforts to rejuvenate the St. Monica's Road, Pembroke area, known as “42nd Street”, said that his colleague had only addressed a part of the problem.

Mr. Simmons said training was needed for the “people that we have sitting on walls, under trees and along the sidewalks,” so that they could contribute not just to the economy but to the “moral” advancement of the country.

The Opposition's Jamahl Simmons said that his party was prepared to “put our money where our mouth is” by agreeing to random drug testing for UBP MPs under the party whip.

“We invite the Government to join us, to do the same,” Mr. Simmons reminding the House of former Opposition Leader Pamela Gordon's 1999 motion supporting random drug testing for all parliamentarians.

“We expect even the smallest amateur athletes to submit to drug testing,” the MP continued. He added that with all the talk about oppression it should be realised that the drug dealer is the oppressor. “He is the most vile, despicable person that walks the earth... There's nothing lower than a drug dealer.”

And agreeing with Mr. Lister's call on mothers to turn in their drug dealer sons, Mr. Simmons said: “We cannot allow any more good and honest people to be dragged down by their family members.”

But Mr. Simmons also called for tougher punishments for convicted drug dealers. “There must be a better balance between punishment and rehabilitation,” he said.