According to the Palestinian Police, illicit possession of and small-scale trafficking of drugs is confined mostly to male workers commuting in and out of the areas under Palestinian Authority. The most trafficked drug continues to be cannabis products. Government data on court cases show increasing figures for consumption and decreasing figures for trafficking in the period from 1994 to 1996. Court cases involving Bango increased from 59 in 1994 to 89 in 1995 and 125 in 1996. This parallels a similar Bango surge in Egypt in the past years, both in consumption and cultivation.
Cocaine appears to be more prominent in Gaza.
The latter phenomenon may reflect the purchase power of some parts of the Gaza society, whereas the former patterns may be due to both the influence of the Israeli illicit market and the vicinity of the West Bank to the trafficking route in neighbouring Jordan. Under the 1995 Interim Agreement Israel and the Palestinians agreed on a quasi customs union. While the implementation of this agreement has been slow, future reduction of controls may facilitate the flow of goods and thus also trafficking of illicit drugs. In drug control terms, Israel and the Palestinian Autonomous Areas are thus intrinsically linked. The situation with regard to drug abuse is difficult to assess due to the lack of reliable data and statistics.