Since the 1950s, khat has been on various agendas of meetings under the auspices of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs and of the World Health Organization. For many years, the attention of these organizations was directed to the question of agreeing upon a pharmacological definition of C. edulis. Eventually, in 1973, it was placed in a group of “dependence-producing drugs,” although there is a lack of evidence that khat chewing produces “dependence” in the usual sense of the word.
At the present time, 137 countries are parties to at least one of the three Conventions (1961, 1971, and 1980) of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme. Because khat contains the alkaloids cathinone and cathine, it is a scheduled drug on the 1971 Convention’s List of Psychotropic Substances. Parties to the Convention agreed to prohibit the entry of khat without an import permit. However, most parties to the U. N. conventions do not strictly enforce the control measures for khat as required by the treaties.
Effectiveness of the substance for use as a drug” (Lan-glois 1995, personal communication).As a New Drug, the sale of khat is prohibited, but not its possession import, export, or consumption. New legislation would place fresh leaves of khat in Schedule II and confine import, export, cultivation, sale, and possession to medical and scientific purposes. Importation would require an official permit. Violations would be subject to fines not to exceed 5,000 dollars and or imprisonment not exceeding three years (Langlois 1995, personal communication).
Clarke Brooke
Europe
The Scandinavian countries are among the minority of European nations that strictly enforce a ban on the import and export of khat. Consumers in the United Kingdom and Germany may purchase khat legally, airborne from Ethiopia, Kenya, and, recently, Yemen (Rushby 1995: 16). In Rome, where use of the drug is popular among Somali expatriates, it is rumored that airport customs inspectors of flights arriving from Ethiopia, Kenya, Yemen, and Israel seldom inquire closely as to the nature of fresh bundles of stems and leaves identified on import declaration forms as “floral stuff” (Nencini et al. 1989: 257).
The United States
Under United States federal law, it is illegal to possess khat for personal use or to import, cultivate, dispense, or distribute it. The alkaloid cathinone is placed in Schedule I, subsection (f) Stimulants, of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The CSA defines Schedule I drugs as “highly abusable substances. . . which have no currently accepted medical use in the United States” and which may be used lawfully only in research situations authorized by the Drug Enforcement Administration (U. S. Department of Justice 1988: 4). As provided by the CSA, the penalty for simple possession of khat is imprisonment of not more than one year and a minimum fine of $1,000, or both (Code of Federal Regulations, 21 1994: 1308.12, 841[a],841[b],844[a]).
It is believed that most khat enters the United States from Canada in small quantities concealed in luggage aboard aircraft or in private vehicles. Seizures of khat have been made at international airports in Champlain, N. Y., New York City, Newark, Chicago, Dallas, and St. Louis. A total of about 800 kilograms of khat was seized by the U. S. Customs Service between August 1991 and October 1992. In March 1993, the retail price of a kilogram of khat ranged from 30 to 60 dollars (U. S. Department of Justice 1993: 2).
Canada
Khat is currently classified as a “New Drug” in Canada, that is,“new”in the sense that “it has not been sold in Canada for sufficient time to establish the safety and
The author acknowledges the valuable assistance of the following individuals in preparing this paper: P. K. Bailey, Badalkhan Baloch, N. A. Baloch, Richard Halse, W. W. Heiser, Ross Hossie, C. C. Held, Erich Isaac, Fritz Kramer, John Mandeville, Martin Novack, Thomas Poulsen, Jean Pryor, Ziva Razafintsalama, Hiromi L. Sakata, Lesley Sharp, Arnon Soffer, and Frank Wesley.
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World History
