another words for this class 1 drug is khat! Many wouldn't even call it a drug class but just a cultural exercise which has existed for hundreds if not thousands of years, but its killing my community (somalis) in vigorous and rapid sense and to my wildest dream I never though khat/caffea places would have opened here but sadely it has. Lets just give you a background info about this practice:
The origins of khat are often argued. Many believe that they are Ethiopian in nature, from where it spread to the hillsides of East Africa and Yemen. Others believe that khat originated in Yemen before spreading to Ethiopia and nearby countries. Sir Richard Burton (First Footsteps in East Africa, 1856) explains that khat was introduced to the Yemen from Ethiopia in the 15th century. There is also evidence to suggest this may have occurred as early as the 13th century. Through botanical analysis, Revri (1983) supports Yemen origins of the plant. From Ethiopia and Yemen the trees spread to Kenya, Somalia, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, Arabia, the Congo, what are now Zimbabwe and Zambia, and South Africa. Traditionally, khat has been used as a socializing drug, and this is still very much the case in Yemen where khat-chewing is a predominantly male habitIt is also noted that on weekends, husbands and wives chew Khat. Children start chewing Khat at the age of 10.It is used by Christians, Jews, and Muslims, though the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (along with its Eritrean counterpart) has forbidden Christians from using it due to its stimulating effects. In Somalia, the Supreme Islamic Courts Council, which took control of much of the country in 2006, banned khat during Ramadan, sparking street protests in Kismayo. In Saudi Arabia, the cultivation and consumption of khat are forbidden, and the ban is strictly enforced. The ban on khat is further supported by the clergy on the grounds that the Qur'an forbids anything that is harmful to the body. Bringing Khat into America carries the same sentencing as bringing in cocaine or heroin.
Chemistry/ Pharmacology
Khat consist of the related alkaloid cathinone, related to amphetamines and the catecholamines epinephrine and norepinephrine. On health it causes:
increased heart rate and blood pressure which can lead to hypertension if other risk factors are present. Hypertension is number 1 cardiovascular killer in western countries and known as "Silent killer".
Ulceration of the mouth (especially the gums).
Esophagitis -Inflammation of the gullet
Gastritis -Inflammation of the stomach
Severe constipation
mild depression
impact on the liver function
tooth darkening-mouth ulcer
tremor, nightmares
lethragy, loss of concentration and energy
causes stimulation to the user which culminates into aggressive behavior.
loss of sleep, and false alertness. Due to these effects, and complexed with lack of concentration, users can cause serious accidents – on roads and with machine
slack of adequate nutrients in the body due to loss of appetite, the user lacks body strength to fight infections (lowered or compromised body immunity)
reduces sexual urge in men hence the wives of miraa chewers starve for the need of their partners. This effect of miraa may cause divorce or separation in homes.
increases the production of malformed sperms in men (deformed society?)
engaging in vain talks. this is my all time no 1 danger as the sin of backbiting is equal to adultery!
Financially: financial losses on the part of the user and his relatives as a lot of funds are used and
brings family problems, like neglecting the partner.
sources: www.nacada.go.ke, www.wikipedia.org.
I speak to elderly men who tend to take the subject as light as the feather whilst their wifes are most often the ones who suffer and most often severly. Having a normal chitt chatt with my younger brother we began to speak about the subject. As a protective older sis I always blurr out all the effects Khat can have in a way to ingrave negative thoughts about the practice in his brain so that temptation does not lead him to the practice. Anyhow he told me the whilst he was walking past this so called khat house a somali lady called him and he arrived at her service. She asked him to do her a favour and call out her husband from that house! She then began to tell my brother that her husband doesn't do anything but sit in that den the whole day and chew khat, "HE doesn't work, doesn't bring money, and forget about what he does for me but he doesn't even fulfill his responsibility as a father to the ten or so children he has". Sadened by this my brother rushed up and called him out but I guess he was too high and enjoying himself to respond to the bewildered wife because he never came out and she left with a look in her face burning with anger. To be honset I feel for her but I have seen it all to often: women being the provider of the house, being the cock, being the doctor to take care of the whole family when sick, being the school bus, being the cleaner, being the psychotherapist, the teacher, the banker, the coach and cheer leader in sports games etc. all that on the expense of her giving up everything for her children's sake. No matter how much I praise somali women it will not be enough they really take me by amazement. Don't get me wrong I have seen many somali men who doesn't have anything to do with khat and who fullil their responsibility to the fullest and I take my hat off for them but couldn't they have an influcence on their peers who carry out the practice. Surely they socialise and when they do they visit these places couldn't they then throw in a couple of words of how dangerous this practice is not only to them selves but to the somali society and reputation (I don't really give a dam about that but for the outside world we are unfortunately characterised by the practice). I guess I expect too much, I guess its more serous than I simplify, grasp and change, but I am optimistic, optimistic that the generation to come will have learned how useless the practice is by their dads who wasn't really been there for them, and I am optimistic because they will be brought up by mothers who struggled for their sake, mothers like the one I have described earlier.
one more thing before I leave this subject hopefully for good here (but I will be talking about it in my sphere) a uni collegue whom I bum into now and then told me that he was doing a mini project about khat as excited as i always am I asked him to send me a copy when he's done, we then began to discuss our experience with the substance and he told me that his brother whom he lived with for so long had taken up the practice a couple of years back and he practiced it to the fullest. Things began going down hill for his brother quitting work and spending most of his days chewing and hanging around. this young man's attiude and psychic changed so much that his brother (my collegue) was forced to move out and start his life elsewhere, troubled by this I asked "so do you still have communicate" yes he replied he is still my brother.
As a pharmacy student I know that my battle with khat has only began not ended!
No comments:
Post a Comment