Research and analysis

Khat: social harms and legislation a literature review

Occasional Paper 95 summarises the findings of a literature review.

• From: Home Office
• Published: 15 July 2011

Documents

Khat: social harms and legislation a literature review (PDF file - 359kb)

PDF, 351 KB, 50 pages

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Details

The review focused on drawing together existing evidence on the reported ‘social harms’ of khat to consumers in the UK. It also provides a commentary on the legislation brought in to control and prohibit khat in other countries. The review found a general lack of robust evidence on the link between khat use and social harms.

Social harms associated with khat remain a concern among the UK’s immigrant Somali, Yemeni and Ethiopian communities but there was little evidence of a clear causal relationship to support this view.

There is a much stronger evidence base for the medical harm associated with khat which suggests that the dangers of khat consumption are relatively low.

Published 15 July 2011