ISRAELIS TAKE ONE `TRIP' TOO MANY DURING ASIAN TRAVELS

JERUSALEM -- The nightmare began with a simple occurrence over the summer --
a telephone ringing in Ronen's home on the northern coast. A Foreign
Ministry official was on the line.

"It was like the world fell on my head," Ronen said. "He told me: `Your
daughter is in prison in Japan for importation of drugs.'"

"I said, `It's not true, someone stole her passport.'"

But the news was real.

His 24-year-old daughter, Dorit, had been stopped at Tokyo airport for
allegedly bringing 11 pounds of hashish from India hidden inside picture
frames.

Twelve hours later, 22-year-old Nava would be stopped for bringing the same
quantity of drugs, in the same manner, from the same dealer.

The names of the women and their parents, and some details, have been
changed in this story.

"I cannot work, I cannot concentrate," said Nava's mother, Sara. "I still
have moments when I find it hard to believe this is happening."

Both parents keep repeating that these are good girls, from good homes.

Things like this are not supposed to happen to them. But like so many of the
Israelis who flock to Asia each year, Dorit and Nava were swept up in the
euphoria of freedom and license so attractive to young people who have just
finished several years in army uniform.

Each year, about 30,000 young Israelis travel to India and the Far East, a
place where the norms of Israel, the responsibilities of daily life and the
restraints of family do not seem to apply.

Israeli backpackers follow well-established routes through India, Nepal and
Thailand, often turning to their fellow Israelis to ask about the cheapest
accommodations, bus or train schedules, and the price to pay for a taxi.

Tragedy is not unheard of on these trips. This summer, for example, three
Israelis were killed when their vehicles fell off winding mountain roads.

Ronen had steeled himself for this type of catastrophe. The possibility of
drug use did not even occur to him.

Yet drug use among Israeli backpackers is rampant, according to Shamai
Golan, spokesman for Israel's Authority for the War on Drugs.

Many of them experiment with drugs ranging from marijuana and hashish to
psychedelic mushrooms and LSD.

The atmosphere is free, easy and encouraging. The drugs are prevalent,
high-quality and exceptionally cheap. Most users do not suffer long-term
effects, Golan said, but every year up to 900 Israelis returning from
overseas need some form of psychiatric care because of drug use.

A few get mixed up in transporting drugs. One well-known system is for
dealers to seek out young, single, attractive women, who are impressionable
and unlikely to attract police attention, to serve as couriers.

About 300 Israelis are in jail around the world, many on drug-related
charges, said Nissim Ben-Sheetrit, deputy director-general of the Foreign
Ministry's administration division.

Ben-Sheetrit recently announced the formation of a special unit to deal with
Israeli travelers in distress.

"Some transport drugs out of naivete, a lack of awareness, under the
influence of drugs or because they fell in love with someone who convinced
them to carry them," Golan said. "Usually it's a mixture of the drug
atmosphere and innocence."

Many of these factors appear to have influenced Dorit and Nava. The girls,
who did not know one another in Israel, met briefly at various points on the
India circuit.

After several months on the road each arrived this summer in Manali, a town
in the northwestern state of Himachal Pradesh in the foothills of the
Himalayas. Manali is famous for several things, including breathtaking
mountain views, fresh air and brilliant clean rivers.

Manali is also famous for its cannabis crop, which makes it India's center
of marijuana and hashish production. Cannabis plants grow freely in the
mountain valleys. In the fall, locals pressed into service for the harvest
walk through the fields scraping a resin from leaves of the meters-high
plants and rolling it into patties between their palms.

The paste, known as charas, is similar to hashish and looks a bit like dark
Passover charoset. It is this preparation that Dorit and Nava carried to
Japan.

Prized in Japan, where a gram sells for anywhere from $50 to $80, the drug
can be had in India for as little as 50 cents per gram.

The two young women apparently met a young Israeli drug dealer there and
started smoking hash.

After hanging out with him for a while, the Israeli dealer convinced each
girl to carry the drugs to Japan, telling them they would merely be deported
if they got caught. He gave each one a plane ticket and three pictures with
frames filled with the drug for delivery to a contact in Japan.

The motives of the women were obscure; they did not even expect to make big
money. Ronen and Sara said their daughters were promised about $2,000 each
for taking the risk of their lives.

The dealer's promises proved worthless. An X-ray at customs exposed Dorit's
drugs; she was placed in a cell at the airport police station. Twelve hours
later, Nava stepped off her flight from Delhi straight into the arms of the
police.

If convicted, the girls could be sentenced to as many as five years in a
Japanese jail.