Kibbutz Shaar Hagolan on the Golan Heights has expelled five of its members for drug use after they refused to undergo therapy to overcome the habit.
The incident, said to be unprecedented in the kibbutz movement, exposed a problem that has been of concern to Israeli society for some time. The men involved, native-bom Israelis, recently completed their army service, much of it in Lebanon where, apparently, they picked up the habit.
According to Herzl Sinai, a spokesman for the kibbutz, drugs, particularly hashish are easy to obtain in Lebanon where they are widely and openly used. He said however that the drug problem dates back to Israel’s occupation of Sinai where soldiers were first introduced to drugs and, under the pressures of war, became users. Drugs were introduced to the kibbutzim by volunteers from abroad, according to one report.
Shaar Hagolan hired a private detective to trace the drug users. He posed as a volunteer and became friendly with the five men. They were offered the choice of therapy or dismissal and chose the latter after the kibbutz membership voted 150-2 to expel them.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
