Few would argue that in Wayne Perinchief, Bermuda has a man ideally suited to tackling the drugs scourge. In a Police career spanning three decades he has been in the forefront of the crime fight as the island?s drug habit has spiralled out of control, wrecking lives in the process.

Families have lost fathers to Westgate or the mortuary, mothers have been forced into prostitution and crime to fund their addiction and youths are committing daily carnage in bitter turf disputes. Some claim the battle against drugs in unwinnable but as the head of the new National Drug Control Ministry Mr. Perinchief is going to give it everything.

After signing up in 1964 Mr. Perinchief saw it all in his 30-plus years in the Police ? how the psychedelic drugs of the sixties gave way to addicts mainlining heroin and then young college kids getting into cocaine. ?It was still a relatively manageable problem although you had deaths due to dirty needles and AIDS.?

Then in the late 1980s he saw crime figures spike with disturbing, grisly murders and violence unlike the run-of-mill domestic fall-outs.

?During one year we had as many at ten murders. We didn?t understand it at the time. On reflection that was when crack cocaine came in.?

He cited the conviction last year of Stanford Archibald of the murder of Aaron Easton in 1985 as typical of the upsurge of crack-fuelled violence.

?It was such a nasty murder, he slashed him dozens of times and smashed his head with a concrete block.?

New DNA evidence finally nailed Archibald in 2003. ?That was as classic case,? Mr. Perinchief added.

Recalling the emerging crack era Mr. Perinchief went on: ?Crack cocaine to my knowledge was created by black people in Harlem, purifying cocaine.

?They wanted to get the immediate effects and ingeniously developed a way to do it. The nemesis of blacks in America ? crack cocaine ? has migrated. That?s our biggest problem.?

Shortlasting highs experienced by addicts drove also crime figures higher as they robbed and stole for drug money. While the heroin addict could last hours on one hit, crack users were needing another just quarter of an hour after the last.

?Crack is compulsive, they want to get back up there immediately. Every 15 minutes these guys are running around looking for another $50. You notice when hustlers ask for a job they always want $50.?

Dealers spotted the opportunity and quickly ditched bulky heroin and marijuana imports for small quantities of crystals they could quickly convert into cash. Asked if more should have been done by authorities before the floodgates opened Mr. Perinchief said: ?Quite honestly at that time I don?t think politicians could have done very much more than was done. We didn?t fully understand the problems.?

But while the politicians dithered, hard drugs were turning up with alarming regularity at social gatherings throughout the island. ?Quite frequently the person who introduces you to it can be your best friend. You think you are going to a nice party and all of sudden someone pulls something out.

?And they are creating a market right there ? that?s the insidious nature of cocaine. People start there and move to crack,? Mr. Perinchief explained. ?Cocaine is supposed to be the social drug the stars use but crack heads are looked down on as the scum of the drug world. Even heroin users have more acceptability than crack heads who are the predatory drug users.?

But cocaine on its own can do enough damage. ?I have seen people lose law practices to cocaine, these are educated, affluent, bright people who wouldn?t put a needle in their arm but they will snort cocaine.

?Sometimes they mix it with heroin to level it out a bit and prolong the high. Then they get addicted to the heroin as well as the cocaine. Sometimes they get so out of control they get into crack.

?Older men are being introduced to cocaine and crack by young women ? young prostitutes. In trying to entice the prostitute who is already addicted they will buy cocaine or crack then she will offer to share it.?

Some have argued removing the legal sanctions on marijuana could have stopped the demand for harder drugs but Mr. Perinchief is unconvinced.

?The myth that marijuana is benign should be expelled,? Mr. Perinchief said, adding that he had friends he knew who used marijuana.

?Everyone of the guys who started on the 1960s and 1970s on marijuana went on to heroin or certainly cocaine and they either had an early demise or to this day they are in financial difficulties or real dire straits socially.

?It was hip in the 60s to smoke pot, now they are struggling. I know these people. Marijuana is a big step because you are moving to criminality. It?s criminal use of an addictive substance.

?There is a certain paranoia that goes with drug use which goes with it. They always thinks someone is watching them and is out to get them. That?s what I noticed with my friends, if they saw a policeman or an authority figure they would scamper. ?Quite often I would be left standing by myself. Then I found out later they were using drugs.?

And when Mr. Perinchief became a Policemen his drug using friends dumped him altogether. ?The quickest way to break up a party, to this day, is for me to go.?

While he has no truck with drug use he believes there is now a tremendous social acceptance of drug use throughout Bermuda. And his argument that pot lead to harder drugs is backed up by National Drugs Commission researcher Ken-Garfield Douglas.

Dr. Douglas said: ?There?s a scientific principle to the introduction of new drugs. We know when some people are consistently using marijuana they eventually seek a higher high, they start adulterating marijuana or they try cocaine straight or they try a combination of different drugs. It?s a gateway. They are looking for more excitement.?

Affordability is a factor in people switching drugs. ?Imagine the young guys who start only being able to afford marijuana. As they have more disposable income they will start seeking a better high. One anti-social behaviour follows another.?

Availability is another factor. ?If you start mixing in a club where there is alcohol, pot and crack cocaine somewhere along the line someone is going to encourage you to try some crack as well. Once you start using that it is pretty much automatic that you are going to get hooked.?

He said alcohol is more controllable. Certainly Mr. Perinchief has no doubt about the damage wreaked by drugs with alarming murders, robberies and turf wars all too commonplace. ?Look at the problems it has created. Our sports venues are virtually battlegrounds for these young people. We have had to increase security at courts. There?s a real cost to drug use. There?s the loss of work hours.

?When we look specifically at our black population we know our black males are severely impacted by drug use. Many of them would rather aspire to quick money to buy drugs than to stay in school.?

He believes Ecstasy has hit youngsters even more than marijuana in the last five years, affecting their concentration. Promiscuity and its attendant diseases are all increased by drug use said Mr. Perinchief. ?Drugs has extracted a very high toll.?

Greater interagency cooperation will help coordinate efforts says Mr. Perinchief. Asked what he would regard as success he cites a decrease in violent behaviour and recidivism. Less or zero drug dealing on the streets is the ultimate goal.

?I have been told the public do give their complaints but because of lack of resources there complaints are not acted on expeditiously. I would like to see the street cleaned up.?