RAMALLAH, November 4, 2015 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas approved on Wednesday a new legislation to combat drugs and psychotropic substances, amid efforts to curb a growing drug menace affecting mostly the youth across the Palestinian Territory.

Hassan al-Oury, Abbas’s legal counsel, said that under the new law, stringent measures will be applied against manufacturers, dealers and traffickers of drugs. These measures include, but not limited to, the sentence of hard labor for life.

The newly approved law also regulates imports and exports of drugs used for medical and scientific purposes, only under strict restrictions.

The law further paves way for the formation of a special action office for drug abuse prevention, al-Qury said.

Though Palestine is never classified among the countries known for heavy use and trafficking of drugs, there has been a noticeable increase in the usage and selling of drugs in the West Bank.

According to police records, 250 kilograms (551 pounds) of drugs were seized during the first quarter of 2015 compared to 65 kilograms (143 pounds) throughout 2014.

According to a Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics study carried out in 2007 and updated in 2011, there are 80,000 drug users and addicts in the occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

Al-Huda Association for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Addicts in Shuafat believes that the number of addicts in Jerusalem and its outskirts is 6,000, while the number of casual users in 2009 reached 25,000.

According to Al-Huda’s director, Ahmed Hijazi, drugs started spreading among the citizens of Jerusalem in the early nineties due to an influx of Israeli drug dealers of Russian origin pushing heroin and cocaine.

According to the Middle East Monitor, “The obvious and arguably most important reason [for the drug abuse now found in Palestine] is the ongoing Israeli occupation, which has a distinct influence on the drug problem in the occupied West Bank.”

“It appears to be a clear policy that Israel uses the illegal trade in drugs as a weapon against the Arab presence in Jerusalem, ruining the health of young people and weakening their mental and moral strength,” said a story published on the Middle East Monitor.

M.N./T.R.