British anti-drug team gives miraa clean bill of health

Miraa farmers will be breathing a sigh of relief after a drug advisory council in the United Kingdom ruled against plans to ban the drug.

In January last year, the British Parliament ordered a review of the impact of miraa (khat) on health, social order and security amid agitations by conservative legislators for greater control of the drug.

The subsequent report, submitted by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) on January 23, said there wasn’t sufficient evidence to warrant outlawing the drug.

The ACMD noted that apart from a tenuous association with liver toxicity, there was no causal link between miraa and medical harm.

Further, allegations that miraa was linked to crime and terrorism were brushed aside, with the body noting that communities that chew the herb in the UK did so in an unproblematic manner.

“There is no evidence of khat consumption being directly linked with serious or organised criminal behaviour in the UK or to support the theory that khat is funding or fuelling crime,” reads part of the ACMD report.

Start counselling

However, the ACMD did recommend that British hospitals should start counselling communities against abuse of miraa in the same manner they deal with alcohol or tobacco.

It remains up to British legislators to adopt the recommendations made by the ACMD, thereby staying further agitation against illegalisation of miraa, or to order another probe.

Nevertheless, this is a welcome turn of events for miraa farmers and traders in Kenya who are already facing bleak times after the Dutch government earlier this month effected a ban on the drug.

Most of the miraa sold in the UK is from Kenyan.