Children as young as 10 are pushing drugs -- because their parents are strapped for cash.

The allegation was made in the Senate yesterday during a drugs-in-soccer debate. (See Page 5.) Opposition Senate Leader Sen. Milton Scott said youngsters aged 14 to 15 had been sucked into Bermuda's drug culture.

"They are involved in supplementing family income. I know it is a shocking statement, but it is true.'' Government Senator Gary Pitman, meanwhile, said the starting age for pushers was as young as ten.

He later raised with The Royal Gazette the spectre of some cash-starved parents sending youngsters out to sell dope for quick cash.

"You may get one or two dysfunctional parents doing that,'' he said.

The Senate had been debating the Board of Inquiry's report into drug problems in soccer.

According to the report, it was estimated 28 percent of all people between the ages of 12 and 16 were using marijuana.

And it stated 50 percent of their parents, and/or older relatives, were using cannabis as well.

The report called for an educational campaign in schools to be intensified.

And it urged the National Drugs Commission to focus on this with a "School Children Say No to Drugs'' drive.

The report had been prompted by the arrest last year in Miami of seven Under-23 players, who were charged with possessing marijuana.

Government and Opposition Progressive Labour Party senators agreed the drugs scourge spread far further than just soccer.

It was a community problem, and all Bermudians needed to combat it.

Some senators said soccer players became hooked on drugs before they started kicking a football.

Sen. Pitman told The Royal Gazette he had no first-hand knowledge of ten-year-old drug dealers.

But he pointed out the problem had been touched on in the Board of Inquiry report.

"It is not something which surprises me at all,'' he said.

Sen. Pitman said he had come across child pushers when he was at university overseas some time ago.

"I don't think the problem of ten-year-olds pushing drugs is very prevalent in Bermuda.'' Pointing out he had once worked in social services, Sen. Scott said he had no doubt 14 to 15-year-olds were involved in dealing.

"I can say it does happen, although I'm not prepared to give specific cases.'' Sen. Scott said young pushers needed cash for the "basic necessities'', such as food and clothing.

"It could be a combination of both. Every child likes to have these types of things, and some take steps to get them.'' He added: "I'm not saying parents are forcing them to go out on the streets to bring in extra money, although I'm not going to say it doesn't happen.''