faces today, drugs. One thing is clear, the drug problem will be with us during 1995 and may well get a good deal worse before it gets better. This is not an isolated concern for small groups of Bermudians but a major national crisis which requires a concerted national effort.

There has been a suggestion that, where drugs are concerned, Bermuda should move from the basic tenet of British law which is a presumption of innocence on the part of an accused to a presumption of guilt. Premier Sir John Swan has said: "We might have to find out that the presumption would be guilt, and that you've got to prove your innocence.'' The Premier is not alone in this. There is already in Britain a clear move toward presuming guilt, and not only for drugs offences. That does not mean, of course, that Bermuda has to follow suit but it does mean that the Premier would be likely to find support. This newspaper would loathe to see such a thing happen in Bermuda but sometimes desperate situations result in desperate measures and the drug situation in Bermuda is causing great alarm.

The alarm comes about because of unhappiness over some recent Supreme Court jury decisions in drugs cases. Politicians being politicians generally respond to public concerns. Therefore we think there will be a tightening of the law where drugs are concerned. There are already people suggesting a policy of "zero tolerance'' similar to that in Singapore where a conviction for importing drugs means a death sentence. We think anything that tough, no matter how effective, would fail in Bermuda because we doubt that juries would convict people who faced a death sentence for importation.

It may well be that Bermuda will see a special drugs court with three judges sitting as a panel instead of a jury but with a continuing presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

There is likely to be growing activity during 1995 by the National Drugs Commission chaired by Mr. Mansfield Brock, a well known doer. It will not be easy for the Commission to make inroads on drugs and drug abuse. We think its best chance for long-term success lies in curtailing the demand. That is a hard way to go but curtailing importation is virtually impossible in a tourist resort where you cannot search every arriving visitor. In order to achieve credibility the Commission will also have to deal with alcohol and such things as teenage drinking on licensed premises, abuse of alcohol by sports clubs, sales from coolers and the social problems that creates for neighbourhoods, the knowing sale of alcohol for illegal consumption in vehicles and the proliferation of liquor licences.

We think there is likely to be a demand during 1995 to get very tough on drugs. The commission Sir John Sharpe is chairing into drugs and football is likely to uncover the kind of mess Bermuda has seldom seen. There are already suggestions of a problem bred by poor administration and a determination to compete at any cost.

The findings of the commission coupled with the growing activities of the National Drugs Commission may create the public will to galvanise Bermuda into activity. The truth is that this may be Bermuda's last chance to do something constructive rather than giving lip service to a war on drugs.