Alwaght- The addiction to drugs of the ordinary Israelis and military personnel has repeatedly been debated by Israeli media, and recently Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper in a report revealed that a number of the Israeli army soldiers were hospitalized after eating "mysterious drug-laced cookies" in an area near Gaza border.
The report said that Israeli soldiers ate cookies donated by people to army personnel and then got poisoned. Stating that the soldiers left the hospital after recovery several hours later, the newspaper noted that an investigation has been launched into the incident. At the same time, the report said that the finding of hashish in cookies indicates the possibility of an increase in hashish and drug addicts among the army soldiers.
Addicted soldiers
This is not the first time that taking of drugs by Israeli military personnel is raising a controversy. A few years before the Gaza war, in 2019, Aviv Kohavi, the then Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, decided to form a special committee to fight the increase in drug use among Israeli soldiers. At that time, some reports confirmed that more than half of Israeli soldiers smoke hashish, a compressed form of powdered marijuana.
i24 news channel, which is one of the famous Israeli news channels, reported at that time that Kohavi ordered the formation of a special committee in this regard after the increase in the number of cases regarding the increase in the use of drugs by Israeli soldiers while at military bases. Even then, reports suggested that the number of drug-addicted Israeli soldiers was increasing despite a crackdown to eradicate the habit among soldiers. However, 5 years after the formation of this committee, the issue of addiction is still considered a crisis in the Israeli army, which has spread even in the middle of the Gaza war.
Addiction to what drugs?
According to a research conducted in 1990s in the Israeli army, considerable results have been reached about the Israeli personnel's use of drugs:
70 to 85 percent of the Israeli soldiers had a negative attitude towards drug use and its users, but this did not mean not taking drugs by the military personnel, although the number of military addictions in the 1990s was much lower than today's rate and was about 10 percent.
In the 1990s, the main drugs used by the Israeli military soldiers were hashish, marijuana, and painkillers. The use of opium, heroin, and cocaine was rarely reported.
Also, cigarette and alcohol have been consumed highly, with 44.6 percent of the soldiers smoking and 69 percent of them drinking alcohol. According to this report, drug consumption among Israeli soldiers is significantly related to the number of people in each household, less satisfaction with military service and positive attitude towards drug use.
At present, however, the pattern of consumption has transformed, with the rate of addiction among the Israeli military personnel raising to over 50 percent from less than 10 percent.
Psychological disorders and growth in drugs consumption after Gaza war
New reports indicate that due to the growth of mental disorders and addiction crisis among the Israelis after Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, the use of drugs among the ordinary people of Israel has increased terribly.
Shaul Laurent, a specialist in mental diseases in Israeli city of Netanya, told AFP in an interview that "after the Gaza war, we have seen a significant increase in the use of sedatives. Prescribed drugs, illegal drugs or alcoholic beverages, and addictive behaviors such as gambling among Israelis are natural responses to overcome the psychological pressures of war... The team of the Center for Addiction and Mental Health has conducted a study on nearly 1,000 people from different strata of Israeli society, which shows that drug use among them has increased by approximately 25 percent after the Gaza war. In fact, one in every Israeli has increased their drug usage since the start of the Gaza war."
This psychiatrist emphasized that after the war in Gaza, the consumption of sleeping and sedatives increased by 180 percent and 70 percent respectively in November and December of last year, and many of the patients are those whose children went to Gaza for the war and they say that they cannot sleep because of anxiety. Yoni is the name of a young Israeli man who was called to serve in the army. He delayed entering the army due to his severe drug addiction. This 19-year-old young man says that he started taking drugs since the outbreak of the coronavirus, but after the start of the Gaza war, his health worsened. He added: "Using drugs is really a way to escape from reality.
"In the first months of the war, I started using euphoric drugs such as ecstasy, MDM, LSD, and gradually this consumption increased. Now I know that I am an addict and I need to go to a rehabilitation center," Yoni says.
Yashir Matan, another member of the Israeli occupation army, told AFP in Gaza that "by taking drugs, I try to forget everything, because we know that war is useless, but we have to participate in it."
Dr. Laurent also said that according to the researches, it is clear that "we are on the verge of a catastrophic epidemic of drug use, and the intensification of drug addiction will cover a large part of the Israeli society."
In addition, the Israeli Haaretz newspaper recently revealed, citing research conducted by psychologists at Israeli universities, that at least 40 percent of Israelis will suffer from mental and spiritual illnesses such as depression after October 7. Israeli media repeatedly talk about the widespread increase in psychological problems among the Israeli soldiers deployed to Gaza. Yedioth Ahronoth has recently announced that the prevalence of mental illnesses among the soldiers of the Israeli regime has caused the medical authorities of the army to set up a special unit for the mental rehabilitation of the military forces and to invite many psychiatrists to cooperate. This Israeli newspaper adds that one of the reasons for this decision is the sharp increase in the desire to commit suicide among the soldiers.
Growing rate of smoking
The Times of Israel in a report brought in spotlight the heightened rate of smoking since start of war, adding that since Israelis fight in Gaza with constant anxiety, it is no surprise that it seems a growing number of people tend to smoke. According to Israeli public health experts, when stress levels increase, the number of people who take up the unhealthy and addictive habit of lighting up cigarettes increases.
Professor Hagai Levine, the chairman of Israel's Association of Public Health Physicians, says "we are in such a challenging time. The cigarette is not our friend. We don’t need it. But I totally understand that we also have other priorities and considerations." He adds that smoking is on the rise in Israel under the influence of war conditions.
