CAIRO: At least 8.5 per cent of Egypt’s population, amounting to six million people, are addicted to drugs, an official survey published on Wednesday showed.

A recent study published by Egypt’s National Council for Fighting and Treating Addiction (NCFTA) reported the majority of drug users are aged between 15 and 25, NCFTA member Suheir Lutfi told the English-language Al-Ahram Weekly.

Bango, a type of marijuana found in the Middle East, is the drug of choice, but cocaine, heroin and chemical drugs like ecstasy and methamphetamine are also widely available on the local market, the study found.

About 439,000 children are regular drug users in Egypt, a major producer, supplier and consumer of narcotics.

Of the 12.2 per cent of Egypt’s students dependent on drugs, nine per cent smoke Bango, three percent prefer hashish and 0.21 per cent take heroin or chemical drugs, NCFTA said.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Egypt’s location makes it a transit point for drug trafficking from major production areas in South East Asia and Europe.—AFP