Opposition demands that members of the board for the proposed National Drug Authority be directly appointed by the Island's major political parties.

Dr. Archibald, who wrote the National Drug Strategy last year, said political appointments to the board would reduce public confidence.

"In my experience, countries with organisations in this field fail as a direct consequence of political intervention or attempts to maintain political control by one or more of the political authorities,'' he said from his home in Florida yesterday.

"I have generally concluded it is terribly important that the organisation put in place must have the full support of the people of the Country.

"It follows that it must be as far as possible apolitical. I fully recognise that it must be done with the full consultation of the three parties with the initiative coming from the Government of the day.'' But he said it was important that the board represents different groups within the community, including the young, labour, business and the churches.

"I am generally not in favour of direct political appointments on a board like this,'' he said. "As I put in the report, the organisation...has to ensure there is broad representation of the Country and various groups have to be represented.

"For example, business, labour and youth have to be represented, operating on the assumption that the objective would be to select the best possible candidates and that those people would have the best confidence of the people of the Country.

"I have come to the conclusion that if this was seen by any one of the parties as a political game, the people would ignore it.'' Opposition Leader Mr. Wade said on Monday that he would back Government appointments to an interim committee being formed to coordinate national drugs strategies until the Authority is set up through legislation.

But he said he wanted the PLP to be given the power to directly recommend to the Governor a number of its own appointees to the authority, saying that it had been ignored in the past when it tried to consult with Government.

He said Dr. Archibald's recommendation that the board be `non-political' was illogical, because whoever was appointed to the board would have political views.

Mr. Wade also said Government had been dragging its feet on appointments to the board and had been slow to come up with terms of reference or the role of the interim board.

Health Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness has accused the PLP of delaying the appointments because it has been "bickering''.

Dr. Archibald said it would be better to describe the board members as non-partisan rather than non-political.

"Any citizen in Bermuda and most other countries have a political view,'' he said. "It is active engagement in the political process which is one of the great concerns.

"Members of the board must be able to bring a professionalism and independent view to issues brought before the board. The problems of illicit drugs are not political.'' Dr. Archibald said the board could not afford to get involved in political gamesmanship. "It board has a considerable task to undertake,'' he said. "If it is not to divert any of its energy into political gamesmanship, then the appointment process would have to be carefully engineered.'' He said the process of consultation on board appointments had to be "real'' and not perfunctory.

"I heard that the debate in the House was encouraging and I hoped that would result in a strong organisation which the Country could embrace,'' he said.

"The challenge for the parties is to get their eyes on the national ball.

"The drug problem cannot be solved by any one party or group. That has not worked in any country. The success of the organisation will ride or fall to the extent that it is representative of the community.''