What Harm? Kenyan and Ugandan Perspectives on Khat

bibliographic database
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Periodical article

Title:	What Harm? Kenyan and Ugandan Perspectives on Khat
Author:	Beckerleg, Susan
Year:	2006
Periodical:	African Affairs: The Journal of the Royal African Society
Volume:	105
Issue:	419
Period:	April
Pages:	219-241
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Kenya Uganda
Subjects:	drug use drugs attitudes Health and Nutrition Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Religion and Witchcraft Economics and Trade Ethnic and Race Relations
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/3876787
Abstract:	What harm does khat actually do to users and the communities in which they live? In this article, the health-related, social, economic, and religious arguments of Kenyans and Ugandans for and against khat consumption are reported. The medical evidence for harm from khat is far from compelling, and the East African debate on khat is informed by local political discourses that often are closely connected to issues of ethnicity and the control of resources. As a result, the harm attributed to khat consumption is contested. The objective of most local efforts to curb the use of khat in East African towns is the reduction of social and economic ills. Yet, eliminating khat consumption would not reverse the problems that it is identified as causing. The data presented in the article were collected during field trips made to Kenya and Uganda between January 2004 and March 2005. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]