Bermuda's families must learn from the mistakes of the past and confront the harsh realities of the drugs problem gripping the Island, according to long-serving Sandys South MP Terry Lister.

The former Cabinet Minister has witnessed first-hand how social ills ended up destroying one of the most treasured venues in the West, White Hill Field's clubhouse.

"It's the story of Bermuda," Mr. Lister told The Royal Gazette. "We did not, as a Country, address drugs from the start."

Mr. Lister spoke to this newspaper about the history of White Hill, the sports field in his constituency which saw its clubhouse demolished 15 months ago following years of decline.

"This is really a disappointment for this community," he said.

"This club was put together by working class people of this area. They built the clubhouse in '63, raised all the funds through big sales.

"Men got together, collected food and drink, and they had a club. For many years, the Bridge Club was a good club, well organised.

"By the '90s, things fell away as the strong community leaders had moved on. The next group came on and didn't perform as well. Then there became a drug element here and the community backed away."

Mr. Lister — an MP in the area since the PLP's historic election victory of 1998 — said he noticed mentalities over drugs changing as far back as 1980, when he returned to the Island from Canada.

He said drug-taking had become the norm at football matches, recalling: "At one end of the field, behind the goal, you got a high.

"Nobody said anything. Here we sit today, 30 years later, and it's a culture now. But it's nobody's culture, I'm sorry. We don't have to be there. It's a huge challenge for us now, not as a Government, but as a Country, to come to terms with.

"The spate of violence in the last three months in particular has been a tremendous wake-up call."

Explaining how the flow can be stemmed, he continued: "Hopefully we are at a point where mothers will no longer accept a new fridge, or a trip to New York, and won't be afraid to pick up the phone to call to say, 'I think my son was involved in something; I think he has a gun.'"

He added that the community also needed to support young men who might associate with gangs but are not necessarily perpetrators.

Mr. Lister said he has seen other Island-wide issues reflected at a local level in his constituency.

Giving The Royal Gazette a tour of the Progressive Labour Party stronghold, he pointed out an eight-unit development of affordable homes, built about four years ago at Morgan's Bay Park.

One single mother told us her life was much easier, and quieter, since moving there from the city when the properties were first built.

Many would question how eight units can seriously impact an Island where the homeless figure is said to be approaching 300 and with large groups of foreigners said to be crammed into small homes.

But Mr. Lister argued it's not that simple, saying: "As a realtor I'm seeing a smaller number of responses to affordable homes than we've had in the past."

He explained single mothers make up a large proportion of people looking for so-called affordable homes; whereas single men with issues that caused them to lose their homes do not necessarily make requests for affordable homes.