A Southampton youth yesterday claimed he was forced to sell drugs to avoid starving.

Dennis Lambert, 18, of Sunnyside Park, made the shock admission before being sentenced in Magistrates' Court to 150 hours community service for selling cannabis.

Lambert pleaded guilty last December to possessing 6.29 grams of cannabis intended for supply and possessing drug equipment -- 23 envelopes and a pack of cigarette papers -- on August 7 of last year.

Yesterday, he told Senior Magistrate Will Francis that he had no choice but to sell cannabis.

"I had no other choice but to sell it,'' Lambert explained. "I had no job. I wasn't going to starve.'' He also told Mr. Francis that he could not find employment and at one point was "even sleeping in bushes''.

"At least I'm not out there selling cocaine,'' Lambert added. "At least I'm not out there selling drugs like crack.'' Lambert said he told a probation officer who was conducting his social inquiry report that he was willing to work anywhere as long as he did not have to cut his dreadlocks or shave.

"It's my way of living,'' he said. "I'm not going to change my way of life or faith.'' Police prosecutor Sgt. Anthony Mouchette suggested that probation or community service were appropriate sentences for Lambert whom he said "appeared set in his ways''.

Mr. Francis agreed with Sgt. Mouchette that a fine was "not the answer'' and ordered Lambert to perform community service instead.

Court cases like Lambert's were on the minds of several senators yesterday.

Progressive Labour Party Sen. Neletha Butterfield expressed her concern about the Island's young people after two young offenders were brought before the courts this week.

She cited a case currently before the courts where a homeless teenager tried to rob two visitors at knife point in a bid to support himself.

And she mentioned the case where a 19-year-old pregnant girl was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for importing 3.24 pounds of cannabis. The mother-to-be reportedly imported the drugs to raise money to go away to school.

Sen. Butterfield said she did not want to see teenagers dropping out of school, going to the Salvation Army for shelter or ending up in prison.

But Government Senate Leader Lynda Milligan-Whyte suggested looking at the role parents were playing.

Sen. Milligan-Whyte said the truancy and teen pregnancy rates were linked with the roles parents played.

"The strength of our community is built on the strength of our role as parents,'' she stressed. "We have to take a multifaceted approach, not just a government approach.'' Sen. Milligan-Whyte added that parents had a role to play in the education of young people.

"It is easy to bring a child into the world,'' she said. "But it is difficult to raise a child.'' United Bermuda Party Sen. Yvette Swan echoed her colleague's sentiments that it was easy to think that Government should have the solutions to the problems.

And she said there were many programmes in place to help people, but they were not utilised.

An "open door'' programme was being devised that children could go to for advice, she pointed out. "We have to encourage young people to utilise the programmes that are in place,'' Sen. Swan said.

And she added: "My door at the Ministry is open if parents or young people want guidance. I would be glad to help them.''