Let the qat out of the ban

“ABYSSINIAN tea” they sometimes call the leafy plant chewed or brewed for centuries in the Horn of Africa and Yemen. Qat spread to the West with refugees and migrants from the region, notably Somalis. Over half of EU countries, as well as the United States and Canada, ban the stimulant, a sort of mild amphetamine. But attempts to do so in Britain, most recently in 2005, left experts unconvinced that the stuff was so harmful to mind, body or society that dealing in it should be made a crime. Thinking may now be changing.

Over 58 tonnes of qat are flown into Britain each week. A lively suitcase trade bears some away for illicit sale in other countries. The rest is distributed to corner stores, kebab shops and above all mafrishi in cities where Somalis, Yemenis and Ethiopians have settled. Men hunker down in these dimly lit qat cafés, parking a fat leafy wad in their cheeks, listen to Somali music, watch football or Al Jazeera news, and talk. It is a cheap high: a bundle costs between £3 ($4.75) and £5, and two would make a heavy night. The legal trade in qat earns money for people who might otherwise fail to find a job, and produced £2.9m in VAT receipts in 2010.