Hygiena 2016, 61(3):119-123 | DOI: 10.21101/hygiena.a1436

Known or Still Unknown Drug Khat. Reasons for and Consequences of Chewing Khat Leaves

Nabil Salah^1,2

¹ Masarykova univerzita, Lékařská fakulta, Ústav ochrany a podpory zdraví, Brno, Czech Republic

² Thamar University, Faculty of Dentistry, Thamar, Yemen

In some African and Arabian peninsula countries, the chewing of khat leaves is a common habit. It contains many different chemicals, psychoactive alcaloids cathinon and cathin, among others. Khat (Catha edulis) has stimulative effects, its also produces a mild dependence and health damages among heavy users. At the end of the last century khat was included into the lists of to be narcotic drugs, both in WHO and in the Czech Republic. Conteporarly, khat is considered rather social and economic risk, both for individual users and for countries growing khat. In other continents, the problems of khat chewing concern predominantly immigrants from Africa. The publication offers brief information on this topic.

Keywords: drug addiction, khat, mental health, morbidity

Received: November 2015; Accepted: January 15, 2016; Published: September 1, 2016  Show citation