[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Khat use spreads to British youth
By Anna Holligan
BBC World Service

 

FROM THE BBC WORLD SERVICE
'Khat' is a popular stimulant chewed across east Africa. Now it is crossing cultural divides and becoming a drug of choice for an increasing number of young people in the UK.
The khat plant, Catha edulis, has been chewed by east Africans for hundreds of years and plays a large part in the social lives of both men and women.
It is banned across America, Canada and most of Europe, but remains legal in Britain.
Khat user Steve [not his real name] is a philosophy student. He is one of an increasing number of students who are taking up the habit.
Steve, who is 22, comes from a good middle-class family and in a slightly apologetic tone he tells me he was drawn to the leaves because they looked harmless.
"They looked really natural, not like a normal drug and they were all wrapped up in this really shiny banana leaf."
Crossing divides
Chewing khat according to those who do it, gives them a mellow high. Some describe it as a cross between cannabis and cocaine.

 

Young people have no idea about the dangers, they think because it's legal it must be ok, but it's not
Dr Eleni Palezido, Psychiatrist
"You're really alert," says Steve, "but at the same time you have a bit of the feeling you have on cannabis... not hallucinations but going that sort of way."
In Somalia, khat is popular among taxi drivers and farm workers - people who have to stay alert while the rest of us are tucked up in bed.
In the UK, some students are using it for the same reasons, saying it helps them stay up all night studying.
It is relatively easy to get, and it's cheap too - your average bundle costs about £3 ($.4.20).
When I went in search of some for this piece, I was pointed in the direction of an Ethiopian butchers in north London.





Khat's appeal is spreading beyond the Somali community
They had sold out, but assured me they were expecting a fresh batch to be delivered in a couple of days.
The woman behind the counter suggested I try down the road.
Next stop and sure enough there it was, nestled innocently between the cucumbers and courgettes.
"Aren't you worried about selling it," I ask.
"No, why should I be?" The store owner asks, with a slightly bemused look on his face.
"Its legal, we pay taxes and people want to buy it, so I sell it."
Controversial status
But there growing concern that khat houses are trying to appeal more to younger users.
And that according to Asha, a teenager we meet at a community centre in east London, is setting a dangerous precedent.
"I see so many kids who...start because they just want to try it, but then they end up going there 24/7," he says.
"I know [people who] have ended up dropping out of college because they've been up chewing all night and can't get out of bed. Plus you get people selling other harder drugs in there."
But it's not just the impact on academic results critics are concerned about.

 

KHAT FACTS
Heavy use can lead to insomnia, high blood pressure, heart problems and impotence
Longer-term risk of developing mouth cancers
Can create feelings of anxiety and aggression, and cause paranoid and psychotic reactions
Can make pre-existing mental health problems worse
Psychiatrist Dr Eleni Palezido reckons that khat can be a catalyst for mental health problems.
"When you stop taking khat all the dopamine (a chemical associated with feelings of pleasure in the brain) leaves your system, so people get depressed, they can get paranoid, hear voices and it can lead to a full blown psychotic state."
Cathinone and cathine are the main ingredients of the plant. Both are class C drugs in the UK, but the plant khat itself is not classified and can be bought openly in shops.
Cathinone is almost identical to amphetamines and it is this that creates a high. It's known to cause mental health problems like psychosis and depression.
And that is one of the reasons why some in the medical profession, like Dr Palezido, are worried.
"Young people have no idea about the dangers, they think because it's legal it must be ok, but it's not."
So far, the Government has been reluctant to introduce a ban on khat.

 

KHAT: LEGAL STATUS
Banned in the US and Canada
Banned in many European countries - Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland - but not the UK
Although, the Home Office told us they were "continuing to monitor the situation." Around seven tonnes of khat arrives at Heathrow every week from Ethiopia, Kenya and Yemen.
The fact that it is legal here has meant the UK has become something of an international hub for illicit trade in khat to other countries where it is banned.
There are no official figures on how many young British people are using khat, but Asha reckons the politicians should act now before it's too late.
"The government should be doing something about it. They think it's just Somalis who are doing it but it's not....everyone's now getting involved."

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

 

 

 

to the folks in the UK, is this true? Is Khat on the rise amongst anglo youth? any of you out there chew or have tried khat? I am curious, as I have never had access as its both illegal here in the US (like all plants that get to high are schedule I, though cocaine and morphine are schedule II drugs, the irony is obvious to most of the world) and also Ethiopian christians adamantly do not chew it, its a muslim habit apparantly, though Ethiopia has many many muslims so it is one of the centers of world production and consumption

[This Is Not Here]

As a UK youth, I've never met a damned person who even knows what Khat is. It's a shame really, I've known about it for some time, and have always wanted to try it, but always receive blank looks when I mention it to people.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by This Is Not Here

As a UK youth, I've never met a damned person who even knows what Khat is. It's a shame really, I've known about it for some time, and have always wanted to try it, but always receive blank looks when I mention it to people.

Thats the kind of reaction I would expect here in the US, khat is a relatively obscure, so I was checkin on the accuracy of the report.

I don't know any somalis, and the Ethiopians I know don't chew khat, most of em don't even smoke weed, and fact a lot of them don't even know that I smoke weed (well at least I don't broadcast it to them)

while it is illegal in the US, I am very sure that Somalis and Ethiopian muslims here in diaspora have plenty of access, prohibition in America has never restricted the flow of the contraband, often it even increases it.

[Glice]

It's big amoungst Somali Muslims. Most people I know who've tried it find it a bit rubbish. If you're trying to get off your gourd, pills/ MDMA are the way forward. If you're trying to relax and talk hysterical shite, weed is the way forwards. When I tried I just had a hankering for something harder. Having said that, I'd rather people were on khat than coke or weed, which are probably the two closest drugs. Ish.

It's pretty readily available anywhere where there's a Somali population, so get thee self down 'ackney young TINH

I can't see it replacing any of the other drugs that are already popular here, it's probably a niche high, like salvia (also legal, methinks)

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by Glice

It's big amoungst Somali Muslims. Most people I know who've tried it find it a bit rubbish. If you're trying to get off your gourd, pills/ MDMA are the way forward. If you're trying to relax and talk hysterical shite, weed is the way forwards. When I tried I just had a hankering for something harder. Having said that, I'd rather people were on khat than coke or weed, which are probably the two closest drugs. Ish.

It's pretty readily available anywhere where there's a Somali population, so get thee self down 'ackney young TINH

drugs I know, my mind is more dense a drug archive than erowid's vault...

weed and coke close? surely you jest?

my curiousity with Khat is similar to my experiments with dozens of other plants that get you high. In fact, my experience with plants like daturas, salvia and other psychtropic plants you pick in the field rather than by on the street corner have actually been extremely potent to say the least. I-man enjoy to try and if mellow enough use natural drugs, plants that get you high in their unadulterated states, coca leaves, hallucinogenic teas, mellow brews, crazy smoke, if its a plant I've tried it or I will try it, though this method is not for safety, as I said before, most plants in their natural state are MORE potent drugs, not less, you have to be careful.

I hear khat is more like a mild speed high than coke, so in that regard I am much less interested if it is correct, though I would try a natural speed high at least once, though in regards to meth, I have never touched the stuff, probably the ONLY drug I have yet to try and have zero appetite for..

[Glice]

I wouldn't take my opinion on any drug seriously if I were you. I'm too fond of ketamine. Mmm. K.

"Weed and coke close?" Yes. In my eyes, both make you talk shite, and both make me not want to talk to a person. Also, both interfere with good old fashioned drinking.

[floatingslowly]

so, if they legalize it, will you advertise it?

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by floatingslowly

so, if they legalize it, will you advertise it?

Khat? I dun know, I haven't even tried it. I can't promote what I don't know, for example salvia was legal for years and I wouldn't even give a potent batch of that shit to this fucking dude

 

[demonrail666]

It's what Glice said basically. Khat use in Britain is pretty restricted to those areas that have a large Somali population. I've never tried it myself but people I know who have weren't particularly impressed by it.

Mandrake is the way forward. The Ancients swore by it. And the Ancients weren't ones to fuck about when it came to stuff like that. I tried it a few times in the late eighties early nineties. Very Tolkien.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

It's what Glice said basically. Khat use in Britain is pretty restricted to those areas that have a large Somali population. I've never tried it myself but people I know who have weren't particularly impressed by it.

Mandrake is the way forward. The Ancients swore by it. And the Ancients don't fuck about when it comes to stuff like that. I tried it a few times in the late eighties early nineties. Magnificent stuff. Truly magnificent.

"During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes." But she said to her, "Wasn't it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son's mandrakes too?"

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Glice

both interfere with good old fashioned drinking.

coke interferes with drinking? hello??

coke and scotch go together like coffee and cigarettes.

just saying-- not recommending it or anything.

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by Glice

"Weed and coke close?" Yes. In my eyes, both make you talk shite, and both make me not want to talk to a person. Also, both interfere with good old fashioned drinking.

I think it depends very much on the person taking it (at least in the case of weed - coke is just a big 'no'.) I tend to talk a lot less when I've had a J, but when i do say something, my God is it worth listening to.

[Glice]

These guys don't smoke weed. Neither did uncle Lonnie. That's all I'm saying.

[Glice]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

coke interferes with drinking? hello??

coke and scotch go together like coffee and cigarettes.

just saying-- not recommending it or anything.

Whisk(e)y is all in the nose. You're saying something that interferes with your ability to smell is good for something that's all about the smell? Shocker.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Glice

Whisk(e)y is all in the nose. You're saying something that interferes with your ability to smell is good for something that's all about the smell? Shocker.

i thought it was about getting shitfaced and starting gunfights.

guess you learn something every day.

[Rob Instigator]

I told all the ethiopians you smoke mad amounts of the green ganj

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by Glice

These guys don't smoke weed. Neither did uncle Lonnie. That's all I'm saying.

"You call that dancing? Hell that ain't dancing, this is dancing.."

personally, I am trying to prefect the front flip into my spring wheel skanking, that shit would be tight. The best I can do is pivot and twirl on a skank step like the fly girls..

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

I told all the ethiopians you smoke mad amounts of the green ganj

did they tell you they already knew?

after all, for years I smoked a kush spliff just before walking into the gate for morning prayer services, and I don't think they thought it was anybody else but the dreadlock rasta who smelled like a sage bush..

but I don't smoke ganja, ganja is a bird from Australia, I-man smoke herb seen?

[tesla69]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

In fact, my experience with plants like daturas, salvia and other psychtropic plants you pick in the field rather than by on the street corner have actually been extremely potent to say the least. ..

there's a reason these aren't used recreationally - THEY AREN'T FUN.

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by Glice

Whisk(e)y is all in the nose. You're saying something that interferes with your ability to smell is good for something that's all about the smell? Shocker.

Oh come on! Whisk(e)y may be all in the nose, but the nonsense that comes out of someone's mouth half a bottle later is easily the match of whatever some stoner may be wittering on about.

Oh, and while we're on the subject of great dancing. This.