Legislation to deal with crackhouses was not included in a newly released action plan to combat drugs on the Island.

The five-year plan for the Department of National Drug Control outlines a variety of legislation and cross-ministry initiatives aimed to reduce the number of drugs smuggled into the Island, as well as providing more drug treatment facilities and uncovering the reasons for drug use on the Island.

However, the creation of legislation to deal with crackhouses was not mentioned in the 21-page document released at the House of Assembly session last Friday.

Since November 2005 the Government has pledged to create legislation that would allow them to demolish or fix up derelict homes which are being used as crackhouses.

However, little has been said on the matter since early 2007 when the former Attorney General said they did not want to act "in haste" with regards to the legislation.

Since March 2007 the Government has repeatedly been asked to answer the following questions:

* How many crackhouses are there in Bermuda?

* How many have been demolished or cleaned up?

* Is any legislation in the pipeline to make it easier to close them down?

Last April, we were told Ministers were hoping to use existing legislation to seize control of dilapidated housing or force landlords to fix up their properties and that 100 derelict homes had been identified — but the list could extend to 200.

Since then no response has been given to any requests for an update, including several made in the last three months.

This week we asked why the proposed legislation had not been included in the National Drug Control's action plan for 2007-2011.

In the absence of public access to information (PATI) legislation, the Government have not responded to our requests. As part of The Royal Gazette's A Right To Know: Giving People Power campaign, which asks Government to restore PATI to the top of its agenda, we are also calling for answers to questions which we believe are in the public's interest.