GOVERNMENT SURVEY: 250,000 ISRAELIS USE DRUGS

A quarter of a million Israelis use drugs, with the majority using
marijuana, ecstasy or LSD on a regular or irregular basis, according to a
survey by the Anti-Drug Authority (ADA).

The survey also found that some 70,000 of the users are school children
aged 12-18. According to the figures released Sunday, three or four
students in every junior high or high school class use drugs.

There are 20,000 drug addicts living in Israel, most of whom use heroine. A
few hundred young Israelis suffer every year from the effects of
hallucinogenic drugs and mushrooms, most of which are consumed during
backpacking trips to the Far East and South America.

Some 7,753 students aged 12-18, from 150 schools, were questioned for the
survey, along with 6,000 adults aged 18-40. Some 10 percent of the students
said that they had used drugs of some sort over the last year; a 0.7
percent increase from 1998 when the ADA last carried out such a survey.

The last four years have seen a 2.4 percent increase in the number of
adults using drugs. The 18-24 age group experienced the largest increase,
with a 5.7 percent rise in drug use. In 1998, 7.8 percent of this age group
said they had used drugs in the last year. In the latest survey, it was up
to 13.5 percent.

There was however a 1.1 percent fall in the number of 12-14 year olds using
drugs - down from 9.8 percent to 8.4 percent.