GLOBAL COFFEE GLUT LEADS ETHIOPIAN FARMERS TO GROW KHAT
Coffee prices are currently at 30-year lows. The combination of falling
coffee prices and inflated illicit market profits have caused many
impoverished farmers in developing countries to switch to more profitable
illicit crops like coca or opium. In the Horn of Africa, Ethiopian farmers
are reportedly giving up on coffee in order to reap the profits of khat, a
leafy narcotic traditionally chewed like tobacco by millions across the
Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. According to a report in the Sun
News, in the United States and Britain, where khat is illegal, khat fetches
as much as $200 a pound. Premium Ethiopian coffees fetch up to $12 a pound
in the U.S., but Ethiopia's farmers get only 15 cents for it. Immigrants
from Yemen, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia are quietly fueling a growing
demand for the drug in the U.S. Users pay more than $50 for bundles the
size of small flower bouquets, consuming it at social gatherings.
Knowledgeable users maintain that chewing khat has more in common with
coffee than cocaine. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has
classified Khat in the same category as heroin. Khat is the latest plant
associated with an immigrant subculture to be outlawed in the U.S. The
Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914 was preceded by a wave of anti-immigrant
sentiment. A review of the testimony that led to the passage of America's
first drug laws reveals a clear racist intent on the part of many
politicians. Opium was identified with Chinese laborers, marijuana with
Mexicans and cocaine with African- Americans. There have been reports of
khat cultivation in the U.S., but its use continues to remain limited to
the immigrant communities. In response to pressure from the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime, a law prohibiting the use, importation,
cultivation and trade of khat was enacted in Somalia 1983. Khat remains
legal in Ethiopia and Yemen.
To learn more about the role of race in early narcotics legislation please
visit: http://www.drugpolicy.org/race/historyofpro/
An overview of the traditional use of khat can be found at:
www.drugpolicy.org/library/ritual2_library.cfm
A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration intelligence briefing can be found
at: http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/intel/02032/02032.html
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=03/01/04/3996446
