prayers on solutions to our drugs problem. This is a crisis on which the Country can be united since drugs are spoilers in every area of Bermudian society. Concerted community action against drugs can be Bermuda's best Christmas present and will make Christmas 1995 a good deal happier than Christmas 1994.

Sometimes it takes a dramatic event to capture and hold the public's attention and to focus action on a Country's problems. We have seen that event. We have all talked about the scourge of drugs for a long time, but the problem has grown.

The time has passed for playing politics with drugs and for assigning blame for the spread of drugs. This is not just a Bermuda problem but an international problem of huge proportions. What has been happening in Bermuda also happens elsewhere. As it has done with other problems so often in the past, Bermuda reflects the drug crisis of the western world. But that should not lead us to minimise what we have here in Bermuda. Drug dealers and drug profits are threatening whole countries. There are those who believe that Bermuda could be an easy target for drug cartels.

Bermuda's tiny size and the closeness of its people should make it possible to combat drugs if we only will. Recently there has been a distressing tendency to condone and excuse the actions of drug importers. Bermuda needs moral renewal against drugs. We must as a community say a firm no and mean that no.

We all have to say, "Not in my house. Not in my neighbourhood. Not in my Country.'' We must all agree not to profit from drugs. That means refusal to accept the proceeds from the sale of drugs. There are Bermudians who know that the money they take for cars and houses and other expensive items comes from drugs. They should, this Christmas, vow not to accept that money.

Too often Bermuda has failed to face drugs. We were conditioned as a Country by long usage to condone alcohol abuse at every level of Bermudian society.

Thus when marijuana appeared it was easy not to become greatly concerned by its intrusion as a second drug. Today, marijuana is illegal but it is often a second drug of choice and very few young people see its use as any different from the alcohol used by "adults''. Many see marijuana as a calming drug and see alcohol as a drug which leads to violence, especially domestic violence.

The grave dangers lie in the more addictive heavy drugs like cocaine and heroin. There are dangers for the public in the actions of people under the influence of any drug. This danger often increases at holiday times like Christmas when people tend to indulge while in a holiday mood. For too long we have used being under the influence as an excuse for bad and even terrible behaviour. Bermudians should vow this Christmas not to tolerate abuse.

If we do that it will lead to a happier Christmas in 1995.