BAN KHAT NOW!!!

[Baashi]

^Talened two-balled man killed it wallahi. Dang! Awoowe I see the talent in you. Maa shaa Allah.

[underdog]

Originally posted by marcassmith:

...I strong believe that Khat will be banned, but this is has been halted by the high levels of apathy of somali community leaders and so-called intelligensia who claim to have all the answers and yet sit there and do nothing (members of SOL).

 

MARC

I doubt khat will be banned for a very simple reason: There is no scientific proof to suggest that it is hazardous to health. In addition to that khat does not impair user to a degree that they become unaware for their activities.

 

I'm personally against any proposal that would try to limit personal choice. Especially with no quantifiable statistics about its effects on the human body. This Gestapo mind-set about making decisions on something you haven't studied or researched or can't say with certainty is an evil.

 

Guilty by association may be good enough for a mob. However, if you want to make a convincing presentation to the UK government or to any rational person, you're going to have to do a lot more than just point and say "Bad".

 

Might be shocking for you to find out the loser spending all night at the marfish will still be a loser with no khat in his mouth after your ban.

[Mawa]

Originally posted by *Pujah*:

Ban jaad in the UK, the price goes up to 50 pound and all the addicts still consume it just the same. What did that solve except criminalize it.

to get that 50 pounds means they would have to earn it so if anything else fails they'd atleast secure a job. miracles don't happen over night give them some time and they might quit khaad althogether because of the prize.

[Mawa]

Originally posted by underdog:

I doubt khat will be banned for a very simple reason: There is no scientific proof to suggest that it is hazardous to health. In addition to that khat does not impair user to a degree that they become unaware for their activities.

Why don't you pay quick visit to marfashka with your digital camcorder and record khad chewers' behaviour when they're high. You don't need a scientific proof or an expert to tell you how khad is destroying the lives of millions of people throughout the world.

[Ismahaan]

Originally posted by NinBrown:

Hey where do you get a figure like 92% of Somali men in the UK chew Khat...thats so rubish...if anything majority of Somali men in the UK dont chew khat. Only a minority abuse this drug.

Do you just said minority? How ironic. Anyways walalo this is figure is strange but true. I don’t know if you watch the British TV documentary (dispatcher) for about 3 months a go. But in case you missed it…….. I did watch over this program and this is what they said…..’’ qat chewing is common in Somali community in the United Kingdom. A study of 2500 adult in UK found lifetime use rates of 89.2.1% in men and 41.1% in women. Current adult users of qat were estimated at 93.1% in a large survey of 2500 Somali people in UK. There are an increasing number of women and children (under 16) chewing qat, although men still mainly dominate’’.

 

Another report: ’’ Qat is popular among Britain's Somali community, and 90% of Somali men reportedly chew the leaves regularly ’’. Ref:http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/extra/series-1/smuggling_drugs_khat.shtml

 

:eek:

[underdog]

Originally posted by Ma'wa:

... You don't need a scientific proof or an expert to tell you how khad is destroying the lives of millions of people throughout the world.

Millions? exaggerate much?

 

...and Yes, you do need Scientific proof and credible experts to show why it should be banned. Its exactly because of that kind of general statement that kills the credibility of any argument against khat.

 

The questions are straight forward : WHY SHOULD WE BAN KHAT? CAN YOU PROVE ANY OF YOUR ALLEGATIONS?

[Blessed]

Khat will not be banned and here is why!

 

 

 

If the UK government was to ban khat now, you’ll still have disengaged, underachieving, uneducated and under trained young men who resort to the use of stimulants to escape from their daily trials. The truth of khat is that as with all social drugs, it’s open to abuse. Alcohol abuse, khat abuse, abuse of prescription drugs in general are manifestations of more complex problems and they often (but not always) exacerbate these problems but they don’t create them.

 

These social drugs merely increase their feelings of inadequacy, paranoia, ..whatever, it’s a vicious cycle which can lead to mental illness, divorce, loss of control over life, poverty but I think that it’s simplistic to lay the blame entirely on stimulants / khat.

 

The are many who chew without facing the said social problems.

 

 

However, I do feel that more control should be placed on the selling of khat, the marfish and an age limit should definitely be imposed (as with alcohol).

[Fabregas]

Marc, if you write a letter or make a petition to the British Government, I'll be the first to sign it. Just don't agree any ban will eradicate, the problem, that's all.......

[Ismahaan]

HEALTH PROBLEMS RELATED TO KHAT

 

The pharmacology of khat

 

•The most important chemicals in qat, in terms of their psycho-active properties, are cathinone and cathine. Cathinone (alpha aminopriopiophenone), which is the principal active stimulant, is structurally similar to d-amphetamine and almost as potent as a central nervous system (CNS)stimulant.Both these substances are phenylpropylamines, similar to amphetamine. Cathine has a central stimulating action about 7–10 times less potent than amphetamine, and cathinone is about half as potent as amphetamine. However, cathinone is exceedingly unstable; it decomposes within a few days of picking or if the plant is dried. Sophisticated supply networks have developed to ensure the plant is available within 24–48 hours after harvesting. Regular flights deliver qat to UK airports, from where it is rapidly transported to various distribution points.

 

 

•Cathinone and cathine are controlled under international conventions and in the UK under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. However, qat is not so controlled and the possession and sale of unprepared qat is not restricted in the UK. Since qat is chewed, often for many hours, to get the required intoxicating effects, ‘cross-over’ of its use into the UK main drug market has been limited.

 

•There is evidence that khat, like other drugs of misuse, can cause the release of the neurochemical dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is thought to be responsible for the re-enforcing properties of drugs of abuse. Khat may also act on central serotonergic and peripheral adrenergic neurotransmitter systems.

 

Risks to physical health

 

•There is evidence that chewing khat is a risk factor for the development of oral cancers. In pre-clinical and clinical studies, chewing khat leads to macroscopic and microscopic pre-cancerous changes in the buccal mucosa.

 

•Khat has significant sympathomimetic properties. Chewing khat leads to an increase in blood pressure and may precipitate myocardial infarction. It is difficult to tease out the specific risk factor of khat for heart disease as most users also smoke tobacco during a khat session.

 

•There is some evidence that khat affects the reproductive health of both sexes. In women it may be associated with delivery of low birth weight babies (as with smoking cigarettes), although the evidence for this is not strong. Cathine is excreted in breast milk although the impact of this is unknown .

 

•In men there is some evidence that using khat is associated with lower sperm motility and sperm count. Some studies report an increase in libido when using khat and others have found decreased libido with chronic use of khat.

 

•Residual pesticide, dimethoate, has been found on khat leaves produced in Yemen. There is no published data on khat produced in other countries. Chronic dimethoate poisoning can lead to weakness, fatigue, slurred speech and lack of co-ordination.

 

•Khat administered chronically to animals causes an increase in liver transaminases and signs of chronic hepatic inflammation. There are no studies investigating the effects of khat on the hepatic system in humans .

 

 

Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs

(ACMD)(3).

 

Good reference sites (mostly medical journals).

 

1)http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/3/5 (khat use as risk factor for psychotic)

2)http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&uid=15707502&cmd=showdetailview&indexed=google (Khat use as risk factor for psychotic disorders)

3)http://drugs.homeoffice.gov.uk/publication-search/acmd/khat-report-2005/Khat_Executive_Summary.pdf ?view=Binary

4http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1767022 (Khat chewing and acute myocardial infarction).

[Skipper]

"HEALTH PROBLEMS RELATED TO KHAT"

 

 

Hey nomads lets spare our anergy here. According to my calculations these problems doesn´t exist. The last thing you should worry about is health because the only certain thing in life is death, it will get to you no matter how well you have taken care of yourself. If nomads who chew khaat says chewing khaat gives them aan immesureble plesure then the there is no issue here.

 

ps: If an armless person has a gun can we say he is armed?

[Mawa]

underdog

 

Somalis are not the only people who chew khad the Yemenis are facing a similar problem. Somalis everywhere plus Yemenis I'm not mathematician but that is a big number.

 

If you live an isolated place with few or no somalis around its hard for you to take in this since you never seen the affect nor the increasing number of chewers.

 

come to the UK and you'll see what we're talking about here.

[NinBrown]

Khat in the UK is becoming more of public health problem. There a number of public health and respiratory doctors lobbying the government regarding the status of khat.

 

There was a big study several years ago which linked TB and time spent in Khat house(Marfish).

Statistically it was difficult to show causation because there were confounding factors such as smoking.

 

The study was commisioned beacuse of the high levels of TB amongst the Somali population. (Example 85% of TB cases in the Royal Free hospital in 2006 were Somali patients).

 

So people dont loose hope, there are pressures on the home office from the NHS regarding the status of khat or at least marfishes in the Uk.

[Haneefah]

^That's precisely what I was thinking: aside from social concerns, the consumption of this drug especially in exlusive qaad-houses would pose a public health risk whereby airborne illnesses could easily proliferate among the users/abusers. I wouldn't be surprised to see enteric illnesses as a result either as I doubt the hygienic handling of these leaves from the farm to shipping to the distributers in the west.

 

Thus, if anything, its use should be highly regulated and marfishes regularly inspected or it should be banned altogther from a health care prospective.

 

PS: Wlc to SOL Marc. Most of us SOLers are quite nice and not so judgmental. And believe it or not, we're just as concerned as you are about our current state of affairs and we all in some way or another try/wish to make a difference.

[NinBrown]

Ismahaan u tellin every ten somali men you know nine of the chew khat.....is that what you sayin...well i guess you know the wrong people.

 

I worked on a research project about khat and Somalis....we had 5 controls for every 1 subject i.e we had 5 times more non-khat chewers.

 

what you got to understand is that statistics can be spinned evryway you like...may be the survey was done in a marfish...then I would understand the 90% figure.

 

Does anyone else think 90% of somali men in the UK chew khat.

[Caano Geel]

mr smith, as mr brown said before he started blathering, the problem is serious but the solution is not a ban.

 

a ban does not provide any resources to tackle the issues, it merely stigmatises and we don't need any more social stigmatisation. we need real resources to drag our beloved maryooley out of their stagnation.