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UK - Cardiff youth worker urges ban on legal high khat

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edgarshade

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Aug 31, 2010
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BBC News

27 May 2012 Last updated at 09:30

A Somali youth worker is calling for the UK government to ban the legal high, khat. Mohammed Dualeh of the Somali Youth Association in Butetown, Cardiff told BBC Radio Wales that the stimulant is killing his community. There are also concerns that excessive chewing of khat is leading to mental health problems and family breakdowns. The Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs is carrying out a review and preparing a report.

In an interview for the Eye On Wales programme, Mr Dualeh said: "Khat is a killer, it's deadly, and it's really sad that the UK government allows it to come here, when the USA and much of Europe bans it. "I hope the government comes to its senses and bans this material from the UK."
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Samira Shaddad of the Yemeni Community Centre believes that this the best way to deal with the problem, but she told Eye On Wales that she has seen no awareness-raising campaigns in Butetown in Cardiff. But Unlike Mr Dualeh, she believes a blanket ban on the drug could make matters worse.

"Could banning it lead to other things?," she said. "Would the younger generation find something else to socialise with, like cannabis or cocaine? How many young people would we be visiting in prisons?

The Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs will report to the government later this year.
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More...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-18219909
 
If this guy had any idea what an expression of racism prohibition is he wouldn't be asking for this.
 
Khat is a killer, it's deadly
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Is it? I'm not finding any explicit data on acute or chronic toxicity and fatality. For some reason, the pubmed articles have no abstracts.
 
How come all these 'legal highs' are 'deadly killers' that destroy families and cause massive social harm, but caffeine/nicotine/alcohol aren't?
 
sekio said:
How come all these 'legal highs' are 'deadly killers' that destroy families and cause massive social harm, but caffeine/nicotine/alcohol aren't?
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The same way the most watched cable news channel (Fox) claims it's not part of the "mainstream media."

the article said:
One of the concerns is that it is time consuming.
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How horrible! Ban it before I children sit around talking instead being rotted by television or go shopping, lest they start thinking and having ideas (Lord forbid).
 
23536 said:
Is it? I'm not finding any explicit data on acute or chronic toxicity and fatality. For some reason, the pubmed articles have no abstracts.
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I think your forgetting that anything that atlers your state of mind in anyway shape or form is a deadly killer no matter what the data says with the exception of alcohol, tobaco, and caffeine.
 
How come all these 'legal highs' are 'deadly killers' that destroy families and cause massive social harm, but caffeine/nicotine/alcohol aren't?
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That's a straw man, no-one's claiming that tobacco doesn't kill or that alcohol doesn't cause social harm. Khat use in the UK is a complex, multifaceted issue. It's mostly confined to Somali immigrant communities, and is thus co-morbid with all the other problems that those small sets of society encounter. The individual this argument is talking about is talking about his community, i.e. the Somali community, being harmed by khat use, and as far as I can tell that's a true assertion. This isn't just happening in the UK, it seems that khat use in the countries in which it has been traditionally consumed is on the increase and is taking its toll. I'm not saying this guy is right, I'm broadly against the deprivation of individual liberties, but I think we should take a nuanced view and ensure that we are well-informed and thoughtful before we jump to any conclusions.
 
phenethylo J said:
I think your forgetting that anything that atlers your state of mind in anyway shape or form is a deadly killer no matter what the data says with the exception of alcohol, tobaco, and caffeine.
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Funny you should say that, in my country some panel of experts recently proposed that our politicians create a law stating just that: "The sale of any psychoactive chemical is forbidden with the exception of alcohol, nicotine, tobacco and those chemicals thats are registered medicines.".
 
That's manifestly not the same as claiming that alcohol and tobacco aren't dangerous. When you misrepresent your opponent's argument, you undermine yourself, not him.
 
Yeah that's true but I never said that. Even so, when people say that it's just hyperbole to highlight the hypocrisy. I don't think anyone here believes that most people out there think nicotine or alcohol is actually completely harmless.

Also, this isn't really a discussion either, this is DiTM. We come here to rage over Daily Mail articles, anti-drug commentators and society's general view about drugs :p (I know I do anyway). It's a way to release the frustration due to society's hypocrisy I guess :)
 
Solide said:
Funny you should say that, in my country some panel of experts recently proposed that our politicians create a law stating just that: "The sale of any psychoactive chemical is forbidden with the exception of alcohol, nicotine, tobacco and those chemicals thats are registered medicines.".
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They did that in Ireland.
 
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