Drug Effects: Khat in Biocultural and Socioeconomic Perspective

Citation

Klein, A. (2012), "Drug Effects: Khat in Biocultural and Socioeconomic Perspective", Drugs and Alcohol Today, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 259-260. https://doi.org/10.1108/17459261211286663

Most authors, this reviewer included, feel obliged to provide extensive introductions to khat as if the substance was a novelty and the audience without any prior information. Extensive explanations have almost become a literary convention going back to the first European traveller reports from the eighteenth century. Gezon's book, by contrast, assumes a level of awareness and learned curiosity in the reader. Her work is situated in a discourse of substance specific, interdisciplinary scholarship that has generated a considerable volume of literature over the past decade. To be sure, there are excellent summaries of the current state of knowledge on medical effects, pharmacology, botany and a critical appraisal of the WHO drug classification process, but these are stepping stones on the way to a new domain: khat in Madagascar. By extending the geographic range beyond the traditional khat belt – Yemen, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia – Gezon like Susan Beckerleg in her work on khat in Uganda, analyses the spread of khat as a contemporary phenomenon rather than an aspect of traditional culture.

What makes this book so interesting is how the author's deep understanding of the local context in Diego Suarez and the Amber Mountain of northern Madagascar bear on the discussion of khat. The anthropological attention to detail, the weaving together of cultural, political, and economic strands into a rich ethnographic tapestry lifts the issue beyond the narrow confines of drug control into the broad context of development. Taking Madagascar as a case study, Gezon shows how khat production is a uniquely local rejoinder to economic change associated with globalization and other processes, and how khat contributes to the formation of multi ethnic communities. She furthermore situates khat production in a history of colonialism, and the changes to cash crop production engendered by decolonisation and shifting consumer demand.

Data on current production and consumption is produced by a complex mix of research techniques, including multi site field work to track the commodity chain of khat from field to market following the example of Sidney Mintz and Eric Wolf. This is still possible in Madagascar because khat, though subject to official disapproval, is a legal substance. Using satellite imagery and “ground truthing” to learn about changing land use patterns, the research matches the views of farmers and other stakeholders in production with those of consumers. Critical medical anthropology provides a framework with the assumption that cultural context (set and setting) are equally important determinants for drug effects as pharmacology. The author, furthermore, refrains from judgement on risks or benefits of khat use and the associated problems. In this sense the work deviates from conventional drug research, with its emphasis on risks and harm. The orientation taken instead is a political ecology, in how political and social forces impact on the bodies of the poor.

New ground is then broken with the introduction of gender issues and particularly the confluence of khat‐related economic activity and relationships among key informants. Livelihood strategies are difficult to disentangle from romantic relationships, and both lead directly to the growth of families and communities. There is a gendered division of labour, with men growing and women selling khat. Throughout her work, Gezon writes, “sexual and affective relationship significantly shaped decisions about when, where, and how to engage in the khat commodity chain”. For many women, khat has expanded economic and relationship opportunities. Gezon notes, however, that while women traders have benefitted from the opportunities provided by khat, other women have to manage budget constraints when sharing a household with a khat chewer.

The diversion of scarce funds into khat, one of the so‐called social harms identified in other countries including the UK, is a real issue to be balanced against the livelihoods for farmers, the social benefits for urban consumers who can relax and build communities around a low cost past time. There are wider social benefits in that khat markets add life to urban spaces, setting “the pulse” or markets in Diego Suarez.

One of the strengths of the anthropological method is that key informants are fleshed out to make the khat economy come alive on the pages. There are real people, whose life and love stories move the discussion beyond abstract arguments of public health or economic growth. It also allows for bottom up descriptions of farmers and market sellers and matches these with the top down pronouncements of policy makers. There are interesting contradictions between concerns about khat use and youth culture, and the demotivational effect its use is supposed to have. Anxieties voiced by members of the political elite are contrasted with observations of users themselves, many of whom report that chewing khat is both a relaxant and a performance enhancer, particularly for hard, physical tasks. The obvious cultural gap between the elite and the populace feeds into the policy debate. Though legal, khat is often criticised by policy makers. It is important to remember that policy makers are exposed to pressure from international development partners and in contact with international agencies who are increasingly seeking to assimilate khat into the international drug control framework.

Two of the identified psychoactive ingredients inside the khat plant, cathinone and cathine are already scheduled substances, and in countries like Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, France and the USA, the plant itself is also controlled. But at the same time there is rising demand right in Madagascar as well as in many other parts of Africa, and the response by farmers, distribution networks and market women has simply followed an economic logic that ironically has been advocated by such powerful organisations as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. These have been influential in restructuring the national economy in line with a market‐based ideology, yet khat has always been outside their purview. As part of an informal economy the production and distribution of khat has permitted people on the margins of the global economy to survive in conditions where they have little chance for upward mobility.

At a time when the legal status of khat is once again under review in the UK, this detailed account of the social and human aspects of khat production, a dimension that was not considered at the first international conference on khat in January 1983. Supported by the International Council on Alcohol and Addictions and the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, it was organised by the Drugs Division of the National Police and held not long after a socialist revolution in Antananarivo, Madagascar. The book then adds an entirely new set of considerations to a debate that was opened 30 years ago, and marks an important point of departure for khat studies.