“O, thou blessed that contain no demon, but a fairy!. When I follow thee thou takest me into regions overlooking Paradise. My sorrows are nothing. My rags are become as robes of silk. My feet are shod, not worn and bleeding. I lift up my head - O Flower of Paradise! O Flower of Paradise” Old Arabian Song From the book: The best stories of Theodore Dreiser (1918).
Khat, [Catha edulis (Vahl.) Forssk. ex. Endl. (Celastraceae)] is shrub or tree that grows wild or often cultivated in the east of a region extending from southern Africa to the Arabian Peninsula. In central Asia the Khat plant largely grows in the wild and its distribution is seen to extend as far as Afghanistan and Turkistan (Krikorian 1984)
Fresh leaves and young shoots of Khat are chewed in social gatherings for their stimulating and mood altering effects. Also in its dried form khat leaves can be brewed in tea although with a lesser potency. Khat-chewing is a popular pastime activity in much of East and Horn of Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somali) and Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula. The chewing of Khat has a deep-rooted cultural tradition in Yemen and Ethiopia but also it is customary practice in neighbouring Somalia, Djibouti and Kenya. Khat is often chewed in company in public meeting places called ‘Mafrishes’or in designated private rooms. The most common features of the Khat experience are described as ability to concentrate, increased levels of alertness, confidence, contentment and blissful state of mind, flow of ideas and clarity of thought.
As Khat is used in its natural form without processing, it is almost exclusively desired to be used fresh for an optimum stimulating effect. It is usually not considered acceptable if harvested more than 4 days before use. For such reasons Khat consumption in the past was limited to areas close to where it grew because the leaves and soft shoots which are the part used in the plant lose their potency within this short time. This is because fresh khat leaves contain a substance called cathinone which is the main and most potent compounds amongst the vareity of its constituent compounds including alkaloids, tannins, flavanoids, minerals and essential oils. In the USA cathinone is a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act; however, the leaves typically begin to deteriorate after 48 hours, causing the chemical composition of the plant to break down. Once this occurs, the leaves contain cathine, a Schedule IV drug. Fresh khat leaves are glossy and crimson-brown in color, resembling withered basil. Deteriorating khat leaves are leathery and turn yellow-green in color.
Before 1960's Khat was not well known or available anywhere else beyond the geographical areas in which it's cultivated, so habitual Khat use was not something seen beyond these regions .However, in recent years the advent of a rapid air transport network and distribution facilities have made Khat to be available across continents in distant places in Europe and America date. Several million people are estimated to be frequent users of khat in the world today, while its consumption is not only increasing but also rapidly spreading across continent in Europe, Australia , USA and Canada. Following the migration patterns in the last two decades of communities originating war-torn areas of Horn of Africa Khat has become a widely available commodity in the West.
Communities originating from geographical Khat cultivating areas are predominantly Muslim in culture and Khat is the drug of choice in place of alcohol which is forbidden in their religion. However although the use of Khat is not proscribed in the Quran there are schools of thought promoted by religious dictates which regard Khat as mind altering substance that should be prohibited like any other drug. Indeed, in some Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia and most of the neighbouring Gulf states Khat is banned on religious grounds and carries heavy jailed sentences for possession.
However there are variations in cultural attitudes towards usage even amongst the two major Khat consumer societies; the Somalis and the Yemenis. Khat use is culturally sanctioned and common practice in these societies. There are also other nuances in some of the modalities and patterns and tradition of Khat consumption between the countries and societies that use Khat. In all of these societies the use of Khat had been evolving over the years and centuries along with the dynamics in societal psychosocial changes. For instance, for the Yemenis, Khat consumption has cultural dimension and is deeply rooted tradition. A recent large survey of 2500 people conducted in Yemen estimated current adult users at 61.1% of total population. In comparison for Somalis on the other hand, habitual Khat use is fairly new a practice that has only been developed as much a rapid cultural phenomena. It has grown out of urban communities in seventies and later in the civil war decades in nineties it spiraled into deviant patterns of misuse.
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