COMMUNITY LEADER ACCUSED OF SEX AND DRUG HYPOCRISY

A prominent member of the Bermuda community was accused of hypocrisy last
night after allegations that he regularly cruises the streets looking for
women - before handing over money which ultimately goes on drugs.

The Alternatives To Incarceration (ATI) training conference yesterday heard
one member of the audience claim that a key player in the fight against
drugs was walking a dangerously thin line.

During the first half of the two-day conference, attended by scores of
professionals from the legal, health and crime professions, as well as MPs
and Ministers, Gary (Solly) Wellman urged the panellists to ensure the
right people had the right jobs.

He said he was aware of someone who promoted the anti-drug message by day,
but added to the problem at night by "cruising" the streets picking up
drug-abusing women.

Mr. Wellman, a client at Focus Counselling Services, said if Government and
the agencies wanted to get members of the public on board the ATI
initiative, everyone involved had to be squeaky clean.

He urged anyone who was receiving help for drugs to report their concern if
they saw prominent people in the community, or ATI agency members, using drugs.

He said: "We get upset when we see heads of agencies using drugs at night."

Mr. Wellman said: "Don't feel afraid if you have concerns... that the
person who is sitting across from you during the day (in an anti-drug
position) is sitting next to you at night doing drugs. At least come and
put on record your concern."

He said afterwards to The Royal Gazette that he purposely attended
yesterday's session because he had seen the community leader in action many
times and felt something should be done.

He said: "I am a street man. I know what goes on. I hang around Court
Street, so what do I think when I see someone in the public proclaiming to
be involved with help agencies during the day, and at night seeing them
cruising around the area.

"Why would anyone cruise around Court Street in the early hours?

Here's a person who I know does not use drugs, but every weekend he spends
between $600 and $1,000 to entertain ladies. These ladies, they use drugs.
He does not indulge in any drugs, but he purchases it and he makes it
possible for the women to purchase it.

"It has been going on for some time. Before, he kept it above street level,
but now he is associating with the people I associate with. It's dangerous.

"We have a credibility issue. I would urge the agencies to make sure, from
top to bottom, that all of their members, and everyone involved in ATI, are
of the highest integrity and are above reproach."

During the session, Mr. Wellman was urged not to publicly divulge the
person at the centre of his claims, and The Royal Gazette is unable to
release it, but Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Commission
Cris Wineinger praised him for speaking out.

She said: "I want to thank you for your courage. I said earlier today that
there is a very big gap between the people who need treatment and the
people who seek treatment and one of the greatest things it takes is courage.

"One of the reasons we have that gap is because of the stigma that is
attached to people with addictions.

"As far as the people that you sit next to (at drug counselling), we work
so hard at the NDC to assess the performance of our agencies, and the
reason the agencies take these assessments is to try as hard as we can to
make sure that this sort of thing does not happen."

Afterwards she approached Mr. Wellman to glean more information about his
claims and she urged anyone with such allegations about agency members to
speak out.

She said: "This is why we have the Bermuda Addictions Certification Board.
Their mandate is to look into any allegations of unethical practise or
behaviour."