At the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday, 15 November 2009:
1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that today's meeting would be devoted to the national effort to reduce alcohol use, especially among young people. He made the following remarks:
"We face an epidemic. In the last three years there has been a 15% rise in alcohol use in Israel. One-third of all young people between the ages of 12-18 report that they became intoxicated in the past year, which is a terrible statistic. Here is another statistic: Approximately 20% of sixth grade boys claim that they consume an alcoholic drink once a week. Sixth grade. That is the second highest in Europe.
We must act against this. We will take three immediate steps: One, we are initiating a legislative change to restrict the sale of alcohol to minors, expand the ban on alcohol use, and seriously increase the penalty for those who break the law in this respect. Second, we will increase enforcement of the prohibition against alcohol sales in many places. Third, we intend to create a public atmosphere which is against alcohol use, especially amongst youth, by means of various public educational activities. To this end, we will today allocate NIS 27 million for their immediate start. . . . . .
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