UK- Khat: a legal high, but should it be banned?

[edgarshade]

Channel 4

TUESDAY 22 JANUARY 2013

Khat, a stimulant drug, is chewed by around 90,000 people in the east African and Yemeni communities in the UK. But now the Home Office is considering banning the substance. Jamal Osman finds out why.

In an industrial estate in Southall, west London, thousands of boxes full of khat are delivered every week. The drug begins its journey from the hills of Kenya and arrives in the UK four times a week. It then makes its way to the depot, where dealers buy the herbal high to supply customers across the UK. The fresh leaves are chewed to achieve a state of mild euphoria. It has a stimulant effect similar to that of amphetamines.

During the last election, the activists met politicians, offering them community votes. In return, they wanted their support for the ban on khat. Some politicians accepted the offer and supported the mission. Sayeeda Warsi, minister for faith and communities, announced that "a future Conservative government would legislate to make khat a classified drug."

But the activists kept the pressure on the authorities. Playing the discrimination card, they accused the government of not taking the issue seriously since "it was not affecting real Brits".

In 2010, when "meow-meow" - or mephedrone - was banned following the deaths of a number of young people in the UK, the anti-khat campaigners jumped on the bandwagon. They wanted to exploit the links between khat and mephedrone. Mephedrone is a synthetic substance based on the cathinone compounds found in the khat plant. They argued that since khat is widely available in the UK, people will find ways of producing meow-meow.

But Abukar Awale and his friends will not accept anything other than an all-out ban.

"We will challenge any other decision," he said.

More...
http://www.channel4.com/news/khat-a-legal-high-but-should-it-be-banned

 

[edgarshade]

Is this the future these "activists" want for their community?

San Antonio
Man to be sentenced for possessing khat
Published 3:13 am, Tuesday, January 22, 2013

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Feb. 27 for a man convicted of possessing khat, an illegal African drug. Filings in federal court say Fahmi Kassim pleaded guilty in August in U.S. District Court in Oxford. The indictment in the case says Kassim possessed the drug with intent to distribute it in August 2009. Khat, also known as cathonine, is popular in parts of the Middle East and Africa, where users chew the leaf to release stimulants that produce a mild high.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/crime/article/Man-to-be-sentenced-for-possessing-khat-4212489.php

 

[Cambo]

IIRC Mephedrone isn't made from the Khat plant. So that argument is invalid. Also whether or not Khat is illegal, people will find new ways to synth it, as long as people continue to take it.

 

[25I_am_so_wonderfu]

LOL @ them STILL calling it "meow-meow". So stupid it's funny

 

[RedRum OG]

Meow meow. Nice and catchy. Like "terrorism"

Reminds me of when high school health class would go through "drug nicknames"

"Ok class here are the street nicknames for cocaine: Christmas tree, sugar, white white, fun-snow, miss powder, yum, fastness, and big boy" lol

 

[Transform]

Poor black communities are disproportionately policed enough as it is. The last thing they need is more harassment from the police to raise tension and needlessly criminalise them.