Govt, growers ask MPs to de-criminalise khat

“I would want to remove khat locally known as miraa and part of cannabis from prohibited substances,” Maj Gen Otafiire told lawmakers on the Committee currently scrutinising the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Control Bill, 2023.

The minister said scientists, whose details he did not provide, that the threat of khat to health is a “kindergarten play” compared to the havoc caused to the body by alcohol, and questioned the logic of permitting production and consumption of the latter while permitting the former.

“In our circumstances, khat has become a cash crop similar to coffee. Because if you drink fifteen cups of coffee, you will die. You will have abused coffee. Similarly, if you abuse khat, it will kill you,” he submitted, calling for a control farming and use of the plant.

He added: “I don’t think hhat is more dangerous than coffee and alcohol … I think we better remove it from the prohibited substances because if khat was dangerous, how come it has not killed people in Somalia?”

Consumption of the stimulant green leaves is widespread and cultural in the Horn of Africa country, according to different scientific publications, a practice the Ugandan minister invoked to buttress his case.

Michael Odenwald and Mustafa al’Absi in a 1995 Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal article re-published on World Health Organisations website, argue that limited use of khat “may not be accompanied by serious consequences”.

“[However], prolonged exposure could lead to dependence, psychosis and other psychiatric disorders and physical conditions such as hypertension, cardiovascular complications, sexual dysfunction, hepatoxicity and reduced birth weight of infants born to khat-chewing mothers,” they wrote.

The call for the clearance follows the Constitutional Court’s May nullification of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Control Act on grounds that Parliament enacted it without quorum.

The government scrambled a new version for processing by the House where minister Otafiire made his pro-khat submission yesterday.

He said de-criminalising farming of the flowering plants and consumption of its leaves, which scientists characterise as a stimulant, would enable Uganda rake in billions of shillings.

Similarly, Mr Kepher Kateu, the director of the Government Analytical Laboratory (DGAL), informed Parliament that cannabis they want permitted to be cultivated under controlled circumstances provides a string of positives.

The plant, he said, is a source of raw material for medicinal oil and textile.

“We know that the cannabis plant produces concentrated oils if it is under manufacturing. We can produce concentratedoils that are extracted and used for medicinal purposes,” he told the MPs, adding, “We have also seen that in other developed countries [that] they use this oil in treating epilepsy [and] cancer patients who are now having nausea [and] vomiting.”

The Government Analytical Laboratory that Mr Kateu heads falls under Internal Affairs ministry docket supervised by Maj Gen Otafiire, prompting Butiru County representative, Mr Godfrey Wakooli, to demand scientific evidence to support the claims.

“For us as a committee we ask for a scientific analysis to assess the advantages and dangers of this Bill,” he said, rallying colleagues to enact a law that benefits and enhances productivity of Ugandans.

The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Control Bill, 2023 is being processed by the House Committee on Defence andInternal Affairs, and not the Health Committee, because agencies that will implement it such as Uganda Police Force (UPF) and Immigrations fall under Internal Affairs ministry. 

Mr Wilson Kajwenye, the Committee chairperson, yesterday asked the Internal Affairs ministry team that did not have written submissions, to return next Tuesday. 

Minutes after government had made the submission, the Wakiso Miraa Growers and Dealers Association Limited demanded that the provisions on khat in the Bill be scrapped from the Bill.

“We hereby repeat the same caution to your committee and urge you in very strong terms to delete any reference to khat in Bill as it doesn’t pass constitutional [threshold],” Ms Isabella Nakiyonga, the legal officer of the association, said in a submission to the committee.

She also warned that the association she represents “shall not hesitate to return to court and argue removal [of provision prohibiting khat] from any future Act that imperils livelihood [of members]”.

Like the Ministry of Internal Affairs team, the Committee ordered the Miraa Growers’ Association representatives to return on Tuesday with written submissions.

Background

The Constitutional Court in May annulled the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Control Act, 2015 on grounds that Parliament enacted it without quorum. This followed a Wakiso Miraa Growers and Dealers Association Limited who, among others, argued that the House did not engage them as key stakeholderswhen processing the law.

Govt, growers ask MPs to de-criminalise khat

The call for the clearance follows the Constitutional Court’s May nullification of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Control Act

ARTHUR A WADEROI

Cultivators yesterday joined the government in asking Parliament to decriminalise the production, sale and consumption of khat, scientifically called catha edulis, citing its potential financial and health benefits.

In a presentation yesterday to the House Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs, Internal Affairs Minister Kahinda Otafiire, a retired two-star military general, argued that cannabis should also be taken off the narcotics list.

“I would want to remove khat locally known as miraa and part of cannabis from prohibited substances,” Maj Gen Otafiire told lawmakers on the Committee currently scrutinising the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Control Bill, 2023.

The minister said scientists, whose details he did not provide, that the threat of khat to health is a “kindergarten play” compared to the havoc caused to the body by alcohol, and questioned the logic of permitting production and consumption of the latter while permitting the former.

“In our circumstances, khat has become a cash crop similar to coffee. Because if you drink fifteen cups of coffee, you will die. You will have abused coffee. Similarly, if you abuse khat, it will kill you,” he submitted, calling for a control farming and use of the plant.

He added: “I don’t think hhat is more dangerous than coffee and alcohol … I think we better remove it from the prohibited substances because if khat was dangerous, how come it has not killed people in Somalia?”

Consumption of the stimulant green leaves is widespread and cultural in the Horn of Africa country, according to different scientific publications, a practice the Ugandan minister invoked to buttress his case.

Michael Odenwald and Mustafa al’Absi in a 1995 Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal article re-published on World Health Organisations website, argue that limited use of khat “may not be accompanied by serious consequences”.

“[However], prolonged exposure could lead to dependence, psychosis and other psychiatric disorders and physical conditions such as hypertension, cardiovascular complications, sexual dysfunction, hepatoxicity and reduced birth weight of infants born to khat-chewing mothers,” they wrote.

The call for the clearance follows the Constitutional Court’s May nullification of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Control Act on grounds that Parliament enacted it without quorum.

The government scrambled a new version for processing by the House where minister Otafiire made his pro-khat submission yesterday.

He said de-criminalising farming of the flowering plants and consumption of its leaves, which scientists characterise as a stimulant, would enable Uganda rake in billions of shillings.

Similarly, Mr Kepher Kateu, the director of the Government Analytical Laboratory (DGAL), informed Parliament that cannabis they want permitted to be cultivated under controlled circumstances provides a string of positives.

The plant, he said, is a source of raw material for medicinal oil and textile.

“We know that the cannabis plant produces concentrated oils if it is under manufacturing. We can produce concentratedoils that are extracted and used for medicinal purposes,” he told the MPs, adding, “We have also seen that in other developed countries [that] they use this oil in treating epilepsy [and] cancer patients who are now having nausea [and] vomiting.”

The Government Analytical Laboratory that Mr Kateu heads falls under Internal Affairs ministry docket supervised by Maj Gen Otafiire, prompting Butiru County representative, Mr Godfrey Wakooli, to demand scientific evidence to support the claims.

“For us as a committee we ask for a scientific analysis to assess the advantages and dangers of this Bill,” he said, rallying colleagues to enact a law that benefits and enhances productivity of Ugandans.

The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Control Bill, 2023 is being processed by the House Committee on Defence andInternal Affairs, and not the Health Committee, because agencies that will implement it such as Uganda Police Force (UPF) and Immigrations fall under Internal Affairs ministry. 

Mr Wilson Kajwenye, the Committee chairperson, yesterday asked the Internal Affairs ministry team that did not have written submissions, to return next Tuesday. 

Minutes after government had made the submission, the Wakiso Miraa Growers and Dealers Association Limited demanded that the provisions on khat in the Bill be scrapped from the Bill.

“We hereby repeat the same caution to your committee and urge you in very strong terms to delete any reference to khat in Bill as it doesn’t pass constitutional [threshold],” Ms Isabella Nakiyonga, the legal officer of the association, said in a submission to the committee.

She also warned that the association she represents “shall not hesitate to return to court and argue removal [of provision prohibiting khat] from any future Act that imperils livelihood [of members]”.

Like the Ministry of Internal Affairs team, the Committee ordered the Miraa Growers’ Association representatives to return on Tuesday with written submissions.

Background

The Constitutional Court in May annulled the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Control Act, 2015 on grounds that Parliament enacted it without quorum. This followed a Wakiso Miraa Growers and Dealers Association Limited who, among others, argued that the House did not engage them as key stakeholderswhen processing the law.