Britain | Drug prohibition

Khat and mouse

Banning the east African stimulant may backfire

OUTSIDE a newsagent’s shop in the Clapham Road, a south London thoroughfare, a man sucks on a rolled-up cigarette and asks passers-by whether they want to buy some cannabis. But shoppers seem more interested in khat, a mild narcotic popular with Ethiopians, Somalis and Yemenis. Inside, the shopkeeper pulls out bundles of the yellowish leaf and explains that it is the last batch he will sell. “After tomorrow, they stop, no more,” he says.

On June 24th the sale of khat was prohibited in Britain, almost a year after Theresa May, the home secretary, told the House of Commons that she intended to ban it. The government argues that since the leaf has been banned elsewhere, Britain risks turning into a distribution point if it remains legal; that khat is a dangerous intoxicant that harms its users and that the “marfashes” where men go to chew are breeding radicalism. But both the government’s advisory council on the misuse of drugs and the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee advised against the crackdown.

Unusually for a drug ban, prohibition seems likely to stop the use of khat. Users must chew great wodges of the leaf, which loses its potency just a few days after being picked. That makes it uneconomical to smuggle. Unlike cannabis, khat cannot be grown easily in Britain. Before the ban, loads were flown in from Africa and distributed from warehouses near Heathrow airport—in 2013 around £15m-worth ($25m) was imported from Kenya. That trade is likely to dry up.

The broader effects of the ban are less clear. Some Somalis and Ethiopians hope that khat-chewers will find something more productive to do with their time. Supporters of the ban include women who complain that their husbands chew the leaf almost without ceasing. The Home Office points to studies which suggest that the drug is associated with marital problems, poor attendance at work and financial stress.

Less happily, people may turn to other substances. “Most people, they just chew it at weekends, chat, watch football,” says an Ethiopian waiter. “I see these women on the TV saying that their husbands chew every day, and I think, your husband, he has no self-control.” Most users will simply drink more coffee, he reckons. But some won’t. And other drugs are not difficult to find.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline "Khat and mouse"

Creative destruction: Reinventing the university

From the June 28th 2014 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Discover more

The future of Drax, Britain’s largest power plant

From coal to wood to carbon capture and storage?

A new hate-crime law in Scotland causes widespread concern

Transgender identity is protected; biological sex is not


Britain’s kings of sourdough

The rapid rise of a firm that makes bread very slowly