Legal Khat drug is rife on city streets
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A ‘LEGAL high’ drug called khat is causing ‘alarming’ problems among the Somalian community of Milton Keynes, city MP Mark Lancaster has told parliament.
Mr Lancaster made an impassioned speech asking the government to ban the drug, which is derived from a flowering plant found in Africa.
The plant, chewed by many Somalian men, contains an amphetamine-like substance that can create euphoria.
Though the substance is classed as legal, the side effects can be paranoia, aggression and hallucinations.
“This makes it extremely disruptive, not just to the individual and their health, but to their family and wider society,” said Mr Lancaster.
He told fellow MPs there were 6,000 Somali residents in his constituency, Milton Keynes North.
“One of the leaders of the Milton Keynes Somali community, Adan Kahin, has shared many alarming stories with me,” he said.
Mr Kahin has described how heavy usage can cause aggressive behaviour and how a number of teenage boys sit all day in a ‘mafrishi’ – khat house – chewing the leaves.
Said Mr Lancaster: “If the government is truly concerned about the anti-social behaviour witnessed last summer, then they need to be looking into these corners of society if they hope to fix what’s broken.”
This is the second time the MP has demanded khat be made illegal, an action promised by the previous government.
He was congratulated by Parliamentary Under Secretary of State James Brokenshire, who said the government was assessing khat usage.
“We take this issue very seriously. We will not kick it into the grass.
“We remain focused on this matter and will take action if that is judged appropriate.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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Comments
There are 5 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
freddyf
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 01:50 PM@Abukar: Firstly I am not racist. My comments were an observation of politicians in general and the fact that they are out of step with public opinion on the subject of drug prohibition. A poll in the right-wing Sun newspaper showed that 66% of respondents supported at least some drugs being legalised. Yet there is next to zero political representation of this in local or national politics. I read the reports you kindly linked to, although the URLs were a bit mangled by this noticeboard. It seems that only 2 of the 12 deaths sited in the UK report didn't involve alcohol or some other contributing factor. The main cause of death appears to be liver failure and that appears to be very rare. Remember that 1 in every 1000 of the population die from alcohol use. Prohibition is one of the greatest follies of the 20th century. It isn't "control" of the drug, It is abdicating control of the drug and gifting it to criminals to take care of production, distribution, sale, quality control and reaping the profits. The result is a lot more harm than no regulation at all. It does NOT protect anyone's children. If anything they are exposed to even more danger. A recent report recommended "regulation" over "prohibition". With regulation the government stays in control and can control the price, quality, sale, venue and age limit. This more effectively deals with problem usage without making responsible users into criminals.
Abukar
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 12:54 PMMrFreddyf ,Lets not worry about who is using this drug khat because every child matters and we should protect them from the harms of drugs like khat. Just like we did in the case of Methadone (MIAW-MIAW ). We should make any diction to ban or not to ban khat on basis of medicalsocial Harms. And for you information there is huge evidence of medical and social harm please see the link .http:darc-khat.middlesex.wikispaces.netfileviewAssessing+khat+related+death_John+Corkery.pdf http:www.nejm.orgdoifull10.1056NEJMc0908038 With regards honourable MP Mark Lancaster we Somali community are very happy how he has given as VOICE and we are ever so great full.and we will use our political voiceses to say thank you. The other point is for you to say Somali community is calling ban it does not mean any thing, how there you are you saying that because we are black and Muslim please keep your racism thoughts to your self is all I say about that. So feredy lets do the maths now. Cathine is banned Cathonone is banned when you add them together in form of khat they are legal can you explain that. Khat should be baned in line with other westren world.
Removed by moderator
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 11:53 AMSorry, what are people from Somalia doing here in the fist place?
freddyf
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 10:21 AMHere is an alternative view on the issue of the Khat ban in the Netherlands. http:www.newsdire.comnews2451-dutch-khat-ban-smacks-of-racism.html
freddyf
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 10:20 AMIt looks like someone is getting a bit hysterical about this plant. Previous studies have shown that Khat is neither very addictive or harmful and has remained legal on that basis. Of course, it's very easy to instil fear and prejudice in people and big-up the issue of a social drug that no one has heard of that only people from Somalia take. I'm not saying it is completely harmless, just that it's a lot less harmful than this MP is making it out to be. The fact that a leader of the Somali community is calling for it to be banned means nothing. Anyone in a position of "leader" feels duty-bound to take a politically correct stance and call for more useless drug prohibition. I doubt they really represent their community on this issue.
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