JERUSALEM (JTA) — Some 10 percent of Israeli youth regularly use drugs, according to figures from the government’s anti-drug authority.
Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch on Monday told the Knesset Committee on Drug Abuse that among the 320,000 Israelis who regularly use drugs, 60,000 are youths aged 12 to 18.
Some 5 tons of heroin, 4 tons of cocaine and 3.5 tons of hashish are used each year in Israel, Aharonovitch said.
He added that the drugs frequently pass into Israel through its Lebanon border.
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