Anti-Drug Authority: 10% of all Israeli youth are regular drug users

Some 10% of Israelis aged 12-18 regularly use drugs, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch (Yisrael Beiteinu) told the Knesset Committee on Drug Abuse Monday.

The minister was quoting from statistics from the Anti-Drug Authority.

According to the authority, a total of 320,000 Israelis are regular drug users, of which 60,000 fall in to the 12-18 age bracket, Aharonovitch said.

Aharonovitch also told the committee that the border between Israel and Lebanon is wide open to drug smugglers, despite the existence of a fence along the length of the border and despite attempts by police and the Israel Defense Forces to stop drug smuggling in the area.

"Drugs are passing through there all the time, and the border is not hermetically sealed, it is wide open," he said.