The more tender leaves and stems of this shrub are chewed by millions of people in the Horn of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula for their euphoric properties and the feeling of well-being they induce.
But make no mistake, khat, or its taxonomic name Catha edulis, is not so exotic. Diasporas scattered throughout the world consume it legally or illegally, depending on the regulations of the host country. Bunches of leaves travel to Europe, North America, and even China: khat has become global!
What is khat or qat?
Freshly picked khat stalks in the hand of a Kenyan farmer in Meru County, Central Province of Kenya in May 2022. Khat is also known as miraa in Kenya – (c) Simon MAINA / AFP
Khat goes by many names, including 80 common names according to cultural traditions.
Khat – or qat – is an Arabic word meaning shrub. The species belongs to the Celastraceae family and grows preferably in AltitudeThe most common method of consumption is chewing the leaves and stems from the youngest branches of the tree.
Since the active effects of the plant dissipate very quickly after harvest, the fresh leaves are transported as quickly as possible from the places of cultivation to the points of sale. More rarely, the leaves can be consumed as an infusion, smoked with tobacco or in the form of broken pieces, sold under the label "henna" or "tea" to be then rehydrated with Coca-Cola. It provides a feeling of euphoria, removes fatigue and hunger.
A shrub endemic to the Horn of Africa
Khat is cultivated in East Africa (Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea) and the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula. The cultivation method varies according to the geology and climate of the regions, in the mountains, between 1700 and 2000 meters above sea level, as a shrub in Ethiopia or as a tree in central Kenya.
It can be associated with other crops, food or cash, such as coffee, which it sometimes even supplants as a more lucrative export product.
A Yemeni farmer harvesting Khat, on the outskirts of Sanaa, April 2016 - (c) MOHAMMED HUWAIS / AFP
Khat vendors pack shoots for transport at an open-air market in Meru County, September 2016. (c) TONY KARUMBA / AFP
The popularity that khat enjoys among the populations of the Horn of Africa and Yemen remains little known in the West. In our latitudes, we are more familiar with another plant with stimulating properties originating from the same region… You can also find out more about the cafe !
Long after the descriptions in Ethiopian royal chronicles and the Arabic writings of the Middle Ages, the first European to describe the plant and taste it was a Swedish naturalist, Pehr Forsskal.
He was one of the members of a Danish expedition launched in 1761 which ended with the tragic end of almost all of its members including Forsskal. botanical observations of the latter record precise details on the uses and effects of Catha edulis, that he tasted. The experiment did not excite him much, the vegetable being bitter, without taste appeal for those who are not used to it.
From a niche culture to a cash crop
Khat consumption has long been confined to its cultivation area. Because 24 to 72 hours after its harvest, the active substances of the plant dissipate. Before the arrival of modern transport, the circulation of the plant was rather limited to its production area.
Closer to home, the French anthropologist Celine Lesourd, working in eastern Ethiopia, recounts in her Publications the journeys made by train by Ethiopian "smugglers" of khat to Djibouti. She notes that the khat circulations in the region are the work of women, while the cultivation of the shrub is that of men.
This niche culture has extent in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Congo, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, a Madagascar and as far as Afghanistan to become a cash crop. And its circulation followed the routes of contemporary diasporas of communities from the Horn of Africa and Yemen. The consumption and trade of the leaves remains in a network of insiders. Ethiopians, Somalis, Kenyans and Yemenites, from Denmark to Minnesota as in the London district of Camden, chew to soften the exile, explains Celine Lesourd, for the site It's a Conversation.
The European Drugs Agency (EUDA) estimates that there would be 20 million consumers in the world, to be put into perspective with global tobacco consumption amounting to 1.3 billion smokers (2020 figures).
She noted in 2011 that this consumption was restricted to the circles of first generation immigrants in Europe. The use of khat remains most of the time a consumption of conviviality in these circles emigrated far from their regions of origin, and moreover, a gendered consumption: chewing khat is traditionally done between men.
Read alsoQat, the plant that quenches Yemen's thirst
Khat is not on the UN list of banned narcotics
While two of the plant's most active alkaloids, cathinone and cathine, are on the list of 1971 Convention on psychotropic substances, the shrub is not targeted by any international text.
Its use has been banned in France since 1957, when it still held colonies on the shores of the Red Sea. Other European countries such as Great Britain and the Netherlands banned khat in the 2010s.
Ban on the consumption and importation of khat Concerning Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, France, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and North America.
Since 2024, a debate has begun in Kenya, country or culture, consumption and export are so far admitted by the national authorities because they generate significant income for the agricultural sector. Some Kenyan provinces want to ban consumption to combat health and social damage, especially among the young.
Read alsoFrom chemsex to party drugs: addiction and dangers of synthetic cathinones
What are the desired effects of khat?
Khat provides a feeling of well-being, euphoria, exaltation, improved self-esteem, lucidity, concentration and alertness without any hallucinatory effects. It is an appetite suppressant and an anti-fatigue stimulant: truck drivers and students say they take it to prevent falling asleep.
The cathinone present in the leaves induces milder effects than amphetamine packaged pure in tablet or powder form. And like amphetamine, this alkaloid encourages contact with others, it is said to be entactogenic.
The sensations appear gradually during chewing, but are short duration : " 100 to 300 g of khat leaves allow chewing for three to six hours. The amount of cathinone can vary from 30 to 200 mg per 100 g of fresh leaves; chewing allows 90 % to be extracted, which corresponds to a low to medium dose of amphetamine, but the slow and laborious mode of ingestion limits the accumulation of doses and reduces the possibilities of high concentration in plasma..
What are the side effects of khat?
- Cardiovascular system : increased risk of hypertension and cardiovascular events. And cardiovascular complications in patients with acute coronary syndrome.
- Neurobehavioral functions: research specifically focusing on the effects of the plant remains rare according to the findings of the authors (only 3 in 2021, at the time of publication of this systematic review) of a synthesis of existing studies in the scientific journal PLOS.
- However, based on the more studied pharmacological models of cathinone and amphetamines, they conclude that long-term use produces " significant deficits" in several cognitive domains: learning, motor speed and coordination, response inhibition functions, cognitive flexibility, short-term memory, working memory, and conflict resolution.
- Oral health : regular consumption and long-term use leads to Carries, lesions of the mucosa, gingival bleeding, tooth loss.
- Mental health: Are khat chewers more likely to be depressed or anxious? The relationship between this consumption and mental health problems has not been proven.ES studies available report contradictory results.
- Polydrug use. To counteract the stimulant effects of khat that cause high blood pressure, some people calm their racing hearts with strong alcohol or cannabis in order to fall asleep. This cross-consumption therefore sometimes leads to other more addictive ones.
- Long-term health effects: loss of appetite, anorexia, even malnutrition, loss of sleep.
Physical health, psychological and social impacts: the diagram by David Nutt and his colleagues introduces several types of criteria to determine the dangerousness of 20 psychotropic substances. In this classification, khat is far less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco. David J. Nutt et al., Lancet, 2010 – (c) Wikimedia Commons
- Addiction: There is currently no consensus on the addictive power of khat. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers it less addictive than alcohol or tobacco. We could talk about psychological dependence and social costs with significant repercussions on household finances. Another criticism heard: the cultivation of the shrub weighs on water resources. In Ethiopia, however, farmers plant essential vegetables between the rows of shrubs so as not to waste anything.
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