New anti-drug supremo Wayne Perinchief has called for mandatory drug testing of MPs ? despite his own party?s reluctance to embrace the issue.

In his first major interview since being appointed to head the new National Drug Control Ministry he urged Bermuda to unite in enforcing zero tolerance for illegal narcotics.

Speaking exclusively to he said: ?I would like to see every Government department have mandatory drug testing across the board so it is no longer cool.

?You have a greater reason for staying off drugs. We need to change the mindset so that it is not socially acceptable.?

Asked if it should apply to MPs Mr. Perinchief said: ?Everybody. I said: Everybody!?

Previously the PLP Government has resisted calls by the United Bermuda Party to have regular mandatory testing of MPs.

Mr. Perinchief said across-the-board testing would put pressure on users.

?I am happy when a company has come up with drug testing. It means if you want to keep your job you have to be clean.?

Sports drug testing has also been a boost.

?I was unhappy the Police took so long to buy into drug testing. It?s not mandatory but I want to see it being mandatory.?

And he said Government is now looking at improving security on cruise ships to catch more of the drugs coming off the docks.

?That specific issue is being addressed as we speak. You will see increased surveillance on the gang planks and on the docks. That is coming.?

Asked why this hadn?t been done earlier Mr. Perinchief said: ?On my part there is a certain level of incredulity in that we didn?t keep abreast of the needs to tighten up interdiction (at the gangplank).

?I think maybe our Government was looking at the economics of doing these things. But we are now moving to megaships and we will have to tighten up on these passengers.

?Certainly we have to look at our container port. There again, there?s a great volume of containers. Because they have to be moved rapidly off the docks they don?t get checked over.

?But it?s my understanding and my desire to make sure that container port is tightened up. I believe the airport is fairly good at looking at the number of arrests.?

Mr. Perinchief, who spent years in the Police force and reached the position of Assistant Commissioner, said Police patrols needed to be massively stepped up in drug hot spots such as Court and Elliott street which recently saw a stand-off between dealers and those trying to clean up the neighbourhood.

Mr. Perinchief said: ?They should be there constantly. 24/7. I will go back to the way things used to be done. Back in the day I was assigned to that block.

?My beat extended from Victoria Street to Till?s Hill, North Street. I was expected to patrol it for eight hours ? the whole time I was on, with a break.? ?That?s what they need to do. Patrol high risk areas 24/7, rain, blow or shine. That?s what we have got to get back to. I would like to see quicker response times.?

He said he would take up the issue of how Police handled their resources with the Public Safety Minister. Red-tape could be bogging down the Police said Mr. Perinchief.

?I do believe we can take a look inside the service and maybe restructure but I don?t want to tread too heavily on the purview of Minister for Public Safety. You need to be there to make the streets safe. I think it can be done.?

But he said without public help Government?s interdiction efforts would ultimately prove futile.

?It?s like trying to put out a fire when someone has an open tap fuelling the conflagration. It has to be not acceptable.?

?We as Government can increase our Police, our customs, our rehab facilities, arrest more people, etc., etc... But acceptance in our society has to be moved to the point of zero tolerance.

?The community itself has to have a mindset that says we are sick of drugs. (People need to say) ?I am not going to tolerate it in my home, my family, I won?t date anybody on drugs if they are not going to clean up?.

?Merchants who presently are dealing in cash sales of large ticket items have to stop doing that. I went to look at buying a new car and salesperson said to me ?Are you paying cash??. Well to me it was ludicrous someone would ask that. It took me aback.

?I stammered for a while and said naturally I would be dealing with the bank. I wouldn?t even think about buying a car with cash.

?But it must have been an acceptable norm. I wouldn?t even buy a bike with cash. But that?s the norm. That?s the point I am making about the whole issue of drug dealing in Bermuda.

?It is not just the user and dealer. We have to look at the people getting the benefits of all this revenue. That mindset has to change.?

Pressure from Government and the community is needed but he conceded it would need legislative change to clamp down on cash sales.

?At a family level it takes courage to implement tough love, to tell a person you are addicted, you have to go into treatment.

?First of all you have to come out of denial a person is addicted ? their behaviour is erratic, they are starting to steal your money.

?Employers have to tell employees ? go on rehab or you are out the door. There has to be an end to aiding and abetting, enabling behaviour.?

Sports clubs must challenge sportsmen on drugs to get clean.

?I heard a hue and cry on the suspension of soccer players. The general public were bemoaning the fact that a brilliant young soccer player wasn?t able to play. The suspension was correct! It should happen across the board.?

He said the Miami Seven scandal, which saw Bermuda under-23 international footballers arrested for drug importation in the early 1990s, should have been a wake-up call.

?This country is supposed to be talking about independence and moving to the Commonwealth of nations. Come on, we have to clean up our act across the board.?