Defence lawyers have, unsurprisingly, questioned the heavy fines being meted out to cruise ship visitors caught with illegal drugs in their cabins.

It is natural for the defence bar to question this because it is their job to try to get the lowest possible sentences for the people they represent.

In this case, they have a point.

Bermuda, rightly, has strict drugs laws. It neither needs nor wants a reputation as a place where drugs are easily bought and consumed by visitors or residents. And the devastation wrought by drug abuse is known to every family on the Island.

But justice needs to be even-handed and in the case of visitors to the Island caught with small amounts of drugs it is not being administered in a fair handed way.

Bermuda residents caught for the first time with small amounts of drugs for their personal use would face fines in the low hundreds of dollars or, more likely these days, a referral to drugs court and a period of rehabilitation.

Visitors, because they have “imported” drugs, are fined $1,000 each, in spite of the fact that the drugs, imported or not, are for their own use. They claim, with some justice, that they are not adequately warned about how seriously the crime is viewed in Bermuda.

In addition, people caught with heroin and cocaine which are unquestionably more dangerous drugs than cannabis, receive the same fines.

Government needs to consider a more even-handed policy.

It's good news that Hamilton Rotary members agreed to continue to invite political speakers to address them at their weekly lunches.

Rotary and other service club meetings provide important forums for public figures to get their messages across and sometimes to float trial balloons for new policies or laws.

In doing so, they add to the marketplace of ideas that is so vital in any democracy.

The fact that Rotary will make an added effort to balance speakers between the United Bermuda Party and the Progressive Labour Party is also welcome, even though the Rotary still maintains that it has invited Government Ministers and other PLP figures to speak in the past.

Still, it is important for the community to hear a wide variety of views on different issues, and this is part of the service that Rotary and other organisations have provided over the years.

Whether politicians will be able to stick to the agreed topic remains to be seen, if speeches from the House of Assembly are any yardstick. Politicians are also going to be asked to avoid “point scoring” which may prove even harder. It is difficult to stake out a particular position without referring to what your opponent is doing.

Probably the best Rotary can hope for is that politicians will label another person or group's policies as foolish while stopping short of saying the same thing of the person responsible.