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Qat
Qat (also known as khat, khut, kat, qut or xat), which causes no social or medical harm, according to the government's own drugs advisers. Photograph: Martin Godwin
Qat (also known as khat, khut, kat, qut or xat), which causes no social or medical harm, according to the government's own drugs advisers. Photograph: Martin Godwin

MPs urge Theresa May to reverse qat ban

This article is more than 10 years old
Stumulent widely used by Somali and Yemeni communities was criminalised without proper evidence of its harm, committee says

MPs are urging Theresa May, the home secretary, to reverse the government's ban on the herbal stimulant qat, which is widely used in Britain's Somali and Yemeni communities.

A Commons home affairs select committee report published on Friday said the decision to ban qat, also known as khat, was not based on any evidence of medical or social harm and that it would be better to license importers of the plant.

The call to reverse the decision on qat came as the government's advisory council on the misuse of drugs (ACMD) recommended that two new legal highs should be banned.

The drug experts said a substance known as NBOMe or N-bomb, which imitates the effects of the hallucinogenic LSD, should become a class A drug with a maximum sentence of life for dealers. NBOMe is a popular club drug that has been linked by police to at least two deaths.

The second, known as Benzo Fury and marketed as a legal form of ecstasy, is recommended to become a class B drug along with amphetamines and other former legal highs that imitate the effects of cannabis.

A decision to list both substances as controlled drugs under the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act will have the effect of criminalising possession of NBOMe and Benzo Fury, introducing swingeing penalties for importation and supply. Both are currently subject to a 12-month banning order that makes the import and supply illegal but does not criminalise personal possession.

The Commons home affairs committee report asking the home secretary to drop the ban on qat says that there has been no consultation with members of the Somali, Yemeni or Kenyan communities who use qat or with those who produce the chewing plants abroad.

The committee chairman, Keith Vaz, who has said he has tried qat, said that the potential negative impact of a ban on those who used the mild stimulant in Britain and on the growers in Africa outweighed any possible benefits. The MPs say the ban also has the potential to damage British-Kenyan relations.

May, the home secretary, has justified the ban by stating that most European Union countries had already banned qat so there was a danger of Britain becoming a regional hub for illegal onward trafficking to those countries.

Vaz said their proposal to license importers could avoid that. He said: "It is extremely worrying that such an important decision has not been taken on the basis of evidence or consultation. The expert ACMD conducted a thorough review of the evidence and concluded that no social or medical harm resulted from the use of qat. We support the advisory council's findings," he said.

"The UK should not become a hub for the distribution of illegal qat. It is wrong to place legal importers in the impossible position of choosing between a life of potential hardship or one of crime. The best solution is the introduction of a licensing system for importers as a middle way between unregulated trade and an outright ban."

The Home Office said a ban on qat would protect the public from risks associated with its misuse: "It will prevent Britain becoming a single, regional hub for criminals trying to make a profit as countries across Europe have implemented the same ban."

More on this story

More on this story

  • Man arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle qat out of UK

  • Ketamine should be reclassified as class B drug, government experts say

  • Ketamine reclassification proposal comes as popularity of 'special K' falls

  • There's simply no case for banning khat

  • Reclassifying ketamine is more fiddling while the crack pipe burns

  • Conservatives will ban khat

  • Reclassifying ketamine as a class B drug will have unwanted side-effects

  • The Home Office's humiliation over qat exposes free market double standards

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