This plant, popular among East Africans in UK, may be responsible for scores of deaths and social problems
Outlawed in the United States and declared an addictive drug by the U.N. World Health Organization, khat remains a legal and cherished pastime in Kenya.
It's a popular with Britain's Ethiopian and Somali communities but there is growing concern over the use of the stimulant Khat which is illegal in North America, Canada and most of Europe but is still legal to trade and use it here.
It has been claimed that in 2009 there were 16 Khat related deaths causing a growing concern amongst politicians and the Somali community about the side affects of chewing on the drug, native to the East African region.
So the question is why is the drug still legal in Britain? Home Office spokesperson Richard Mullins told The Voice:
"The government recognises that there is a great concern in the communities affected by Khat yet it has to take advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) before they can put a proposal forward for control of Khat before Parliament and up till now it has been their view that Khat should remain a Class C drug."
Back in 2006 the Home Office Minister responsible for drugs- MP Caroline Flint- made no attempt to nip the problem in the bud. In a written Parliamentary answer on February 27 of the same year she told MP David Davies that:
‘The national drug treatment monitoring system shows that 141 people in England reported to treatment services with khat as their main drug of use, and 9 persons reported with it as their secondary drug of use between April 2004 and December 2005, which makes khat of minor importance in the drug treatment area’.
However Abuka Awale, a community engagement officer for Copland College in Brent, north London, who is an former khat addict and leader of the ‘Stop Khat coming to the UK’ campaign hit back arguing that there is an element of discrimination as to why the government hasn’t capped the drug in this country.
http://www.voice-online.co.uk/content.php?show=17945
The british government know.. if they ban khat somali men will be without a hobby..iyo they will become extremist.
its better to keep their crazy extreme ideas in the mafraash
