DRUG HAS KEPT GENERATIONS WIRED

'Magic From Allah'. Khat Leaves Are Kenya's Greatest Export

Deep into his stash of khat, Ibrahim Mahdi is buzzing by the time the call
to prayer begins echoing from a nearby mosque. There will be no Muslim
prayers for Mahdi this night.

He is in thrall to another tradition, one as old and, in these parts, as
widespread as the faith of Muhammad.

Mahdi chews khat, a semi-narcotic leaf that has wired generations of
Muslims from the coast of eastern Africa to Yemen at the tip of the Arabian
Peninsula.

Outlawed in the United States and declared an addictive drug by the World
Health Organization, khat remains legal and cherished in Kenya.

Each night in this Indian Ocean port, men young and old gather to chew,
sharing gossip and debating politics or simply dreaming of a better life.
Women chew, too - but separately.

Khat has become an unlikely cash crop, with exports to European countries
like Britain, where large East African immigrant communities legally chew.

"It is little bit of magic from Allah," Mahdi said.

Khat (pronounced cot) comes from the stems and leaf of the Catha Edulis
plant, a shrub native to Ethiopia. Casual users say khat increases
self-confidence, promotes clear thought and alleviates fatigue. The leaves
and stems resemble tea and are held in the cheek, much like chewing tobacco.

Given WHO's designation of khat as a "drug of abuse" in 1980, the Kenyan
government takes a hands-off approach to monitoring its use and export,
despite its growing economic value.

Khat exports bring in about $250 million U.S. a year, making it one of the
country's largest foreign exchange earners, said Leandro Bariu, chairman of
Nyambene Miraa Trade Association, the country's largest khat industry group.

Most of the 150 tonnes of khat exported a week from Kenya goes to Somalia
and to European countries like Britain and the Netherlands, where khat is
legal.

A local market also helps support the 500,000 Kenyans who depend on khat
for their livelihood, Bariu said. With world coffee prices at an all-time
low, some coffee farmers in Kenya and Ethiopia are sowing their fields with
khat.

Although khat "is often used in a social context similar to the manner in
which coffee is consumed, chronic khat abuse can result in symptoms such as
physical exhaustion, violence and suicidal depression," the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration said.

Bariu derides talk about addiction as nonsense. "I myself have chewed for
30 years. But I only take a little bit each day after breakfast, lunch and
dinner - I am not an addict," he said.