Bermuda should look at legalising marijuana, Government Senator Calvin Smith said yesterday.

And he said a law which was not regarded with respect should be examined with the possibility of repealing it.

Sen. Smith said: "We have got to look at this -- most of Bermuda society doesn't regard marijuana as serious a challenge.

"And they get very angry when they see some youngster get put away for marijuana use.'' He added: "Young people are suffering and predominantly young black people are suffering, not primarily because they are black, but because they are of the lower income group in Bermuda.'' And he said: "At the moment, the laws against marijuana place a much more severe penalty on the black community generally, and black youth in particular, than is fair and I think something should be done about it.'' Sen. Smith added that he would put the decriminalisation of marijuana in the same category as the end of prohibition of alcohol in the US in the 1930s.

He said: "Alcohol was illegal in America -- some people in Canada and some people in Bermuda got rich.

"It's hard to impose a law if people are not convinced something is bad.'' Sen. Smith added that the "flower power'' children of the 60s, who looked on marijuana use as normal, were now parents -- and their views were probably different from previous generations, while some even saw cocaine, although not crack cocaine, as a "recreational drug.'' He said: "A lot of people are convinced marijuana is no worse than the use of alcohol and question why it's illegal.'' But he stressed that an Island-wide debate -- and even a Green Paper similar to the look at the marine environment and fishing -- should be carried out before any changes in the law are made.

Sen. Smith said: "We should look seriously at it, but before we look at changing the law on anything, there needs to be an Island debate similar to the debate on the Green Paper on marine resources.'' The Senator -- a former president of PHC in Warwick -- was speaking after he blasted former Youth and Sports Minister Tim Smith for remarks made about the link between sports organisations and drugs.

Mr. Smith sparked a storm of controversy after he said that clubs benefited from drugs -- he later clarified his position by insisting he did not mean directly but through gate receipts and use of clubhouses.

But Sen. Smith said -- even in the 70s -- PHC had tackled the problem of drug abuse at its ground head-on.

He said: "Mr. Smith upset me considerably because it was obvious he didn't have a clue what he was talking about.

"If he had ever been around club administrations, he would know that these administrations have been concerned about drugs.'' And he said Mr. Smith's comments were "the stupidest statement I have ever heard.'' Sen. Smith said PHC had organised meetings involving local businesses and residents, as well as youngsters and those who used drugs, years ago in a bid to crack down on drug abuse in and around its grounds.

He added: "The thing that had us concerned more than that was the distribution of drugs and we made several approaches to the Police to come to the field. It was very difficult to get the cooperation of the Police.'' Sen. Smith agreed that any hint of legalisation of marijuana would probably provoke a row.

But he insisted: "The people who protest this are the people who have never done any of these things...they probably want alcohol banned too.'' SENATOR SEN