Khat to be banned

[Efour]

I'm not being funny but if Somalian men wanna chew glass i am all up for their rights to. Even encourage it.

Ban everything you cant control or dont understand seems logical

 

[Gilly]

No, not at all worse than alcohol.

My point is there are some substances that are banned. There are some that are not. To change the way the substance is dealt with now should have overwhelming reasons the other way to change it. Whether that be banned to unbanned or unbanned to banned.

I don't think a sewing circle should have the power to ban something, and nor should an entirely different country.

I think controlling khat in this manner is entirely unnecessary.

 

[Nitefly]

Plenty have far more than alcohol. The reason alcohol is scored so highly, is how many people partake. It's not particle addictive or bad for you health..

It is acknowledged in the paper that the availability of alcohol makes it difficult to compare, but then there's no other way to compare it. If we have to sit on the fence, you can say that many illegal drugs are probably as or less harmful than alcohol.

 

[Nitefly]

No, not at all worse than alcohol.

My point is there are some substances that are banned. There are some that are not. To change the way the substance is dealt with now should have overwhelming reasons the other way to change it. Whether that be banned to unbanned or unbanned to banned.

I don't think a sewing circle should have the power to ban something, and nor should an entirely different country.

I think controlling khat in this manner is entirely unnecessary.

I think the moral compass of the country makes it easy to ban substances. On the whole we should be grateful, as that's probably not a bad thing!

Edit - that was a rather wishy washy sentence, but what I was implying, was, for example, it's probably better to be able to ban new hyper harmful substances akin to heroin than keep things like khat legal. A well considered case by case assessment is obviously the best option.

 

[Freakbro]

Plenty have far more than alcohol. The reason alcohol is scored so highly, is how many people partake. It's not particle addictive or bad for you health..

Wow, really?

You mean it's not bad for your health with no links to Diabetes, Cancer (liver, bowel, breast, mouth, pharyngeal cancer, oesophageal cancer, laryngeal), Cirrosis of the liver, Depression, Psychosis and Suicide.

And it's not particularly addictive either, where the NHS estimates 9% of the male UK population have an alcohol dependence.

http://www.drinkaware.co.uk/check-t...s-of-alcohol?gclid=CMGDhJLAir8CFa_LtAodtVMACw

And that table of harm/dependence of various narcotics will have been statistically weighted.

 

[MickeyFinns]

I've chewed Khat in Ethiopia and Somalia and it being banned is ridiculous.

You have to chew about a fistful of leaves for a few hours to get an effect similar to an espresso. Gives a wicked headache too and is extremely bitter.

Only health affect I'm aware of is it savages peoples teeth if you don't have a decent brushing regime.

In Ethiopia at least it mostly seemed popular as a way of killing time on public transport, most people just drink beer for recreation. In Somaliland it was much more prolific with people chewing it all the time. The Government armed guide I had employed was on it non-stop..

 

[AndyCroft1982]

Ban Islam not khat

 

[EGuitarStar]

Ban Islam not khat

Ban him!

 

[Kishywish]

So no more dangerous than chewing gum?

 

[CREATIVE!11]

It's like Coca leaves,

They tried to ban them before in their native country peru, it didn't work at all. They've been chewing coca leaves for god knows how long according to wikipedia thousands of years 8000+....

I don't see it the relevance of trying to ban certain things sometimes.

You want to ban something ban smoking please. Pointless. At least khat gives you a boost/has a purpose.

It's funny how we as a society decide to label certain things as ok and others as ghastly and dangerous!!1 and people eat it up because they are unable to self educate. I told someone once I tried a drug I won't say which but put it this way I researched it and gave it a whirl, they lost their **** going how it'll fry my brain. I said how many studies have you read about it? how much info do you actually know? you can guess they knew absolutely nothing.

I remember once someone told me drugs are terrible, I told them alcohol was a drug (I don't drink either only like maybe 3-4x a year). They looked at me perplexed and said yeah but it's legal..

Amazing.

 

[XeNoN89]

Shock as another relatively harmless drug is made illegal while two of the most damaging continue to be legal and widely used (tobacco and alcohol)

 

[FinglisHobbit]

Plenty have far more than alcohol. The reason alcohol is scored so highly, is how many people partake. It's not particle addictive or bad for you health..

I know far more people affected by alcoholism than by any recreational drugs. I've been a regular user of both in the past and alcohol certainly isn't nearly as innocent as your post makes out .

It's availability isn't it's only issue. We have a culture that's very dependant on it. It's quite depressing really. But I'm guilty of it myself, I drink excessively when I go out with friends, and iI drink a few beers or a whisky at home quite regular too.

I think the whole drug policy needs looking at. It's dated. I also think it's a very difficult thing to get right. When people work with machinery, drive vehicles and work in hazardous environments it's important that we don't get too complacent about them too.

 

[krooton]

In Ethiopia at least it mostly seemed popular as a way of killing time on public transport, most people just drink beer for recreation. In Somaliland it was much more prolific with people chewing it all the time. The Government armed guide I had employed was on it non-stop..

So effectively their version of coffee.

 

[Glaucus]

I know far more people affected by alcoholism than by any recreational drugs. I've been a regular user of both in the past and alcohol certainly isn't nearly as innocent as your post makes out .

It's availability isn't it's only issue. We have a culture that's very dependant on it. It's quite depressing really. But I'm guilty of it myself, I drink excessively when I go out with friends, and iI drink a few beers or a whisky at home quite regular too.

I think the whole drug policy needs looking at. It's dated. I also think it's a very difficult thing to get right. When people work with machinery, drive vehicles and work in hazardous environments it's important that we don't get too complacent about them too.

I didn't say it was innocent. There's billions of alcohol users, the same can't be said for other banned drugs.

It's not difficult to get right at all. It just needs to be based on science. Not idiotic moral compass that most of society has.

A regular user isn't an issue. Some people get addicted but its not inherently addictive. Then you have the fighters etc. People say they can't handle the drink but 19/20 times its idiots who are looking for trouble and are repeat offenders. This is one place where the law needs to come Dow harsh. It's the same people who end up in fights etc, week in, see out.

 

[CREATIVE!11]

Shock as another relatively harmless drug is made illegal while two of the most damaging continue to be legal and widely used (tobacco and alcohol)

This x1000.

I get why people drink, you get a good time off it etc helps you loosen up

But smoking really grinds me LOL. I don't see ANY gain from it. I watch people burn their money on it.

Utterly repulsive habit.

Ban it.

 

[MickeyFinns]

So effectively their version of coffee.

Yes and No as Ethiopia is one of the homes of Coffee

But yeah it is in the same vein. People use it as a stimulant to sit around and have conversations. Notably for the muslims in Ethiopia and Somaliland it is the cultural equivalent of going to the pub for a few pints and a chat.

 

[Gilly]

So effectively their version of coffee.

Yes, exactly this.

 

[elmarko]

I just can't stand the way they commission reports then completely ignore the findings.

This is what I can't stand about our political system, as mentioned earlier in the thread - how about some evidence based policy for a change.

 

[FinglisHobbit]

I didn't say it was innocent. There's billions of alcohol users, the same can't be said for other banned drugs.

It's not difficult to get right at all. It just needs to be based on science. Not idiotic moral compass that most of society has.

A regular user isn't an issue. Some people get addicted but its not inherently addictive. Then you have the fighters etc. People say they can't handle the drink but 19/20 times its idiots who are looking for trouble and are repeat offenders. This is one place where the law needs to come Dow harsh. It's the same people who end up in fights etc, week in, see out.

What would be your way to regulate it? I'd imagine there would need to be some sort of classification still in place to differentiate between drugs more threatening than others, would the science just be clinical trials of each drug and then decide which we decriminalise? I find these ideas interesting.

I think it's a complex problem to deal with. I see how cannabis is relatively safe, yet I wouldn't like half of the country stoned all the time on shop bought weed.

 

[Glaucus]

There's already a ton of research on most drugs. It's a balance between. Addictiveness, health risk to yourself and others (far more weight put on others) etc. Which gives you the risk factor. You then ban, control, or legalize based on that.