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| Arabia | |
| Yemen's Socotra burns two tonnes of qat after island bans drug | |
| 2015-11-23 | |
| [AlAhram] Authorities on Yemen's Socotra island burnt two tonnes of the mild narcotic drug qat on Saturday, a shipment seized from smugglers trying to defy last week's ban by the archipelago's governor, local officials said. Yemenis have chewed qat for centuries and although widespread, its use is seen as a social ill by some, sapping productivity and finances.
The national pastime has survived the last few years of turmoil in the impoverished Arab country, including the war that began last year involving air and ground troops from an Arab coalition led by Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... . It is not uncommon to see Yemeni fighters and soldiers with a wad of qat leaves in their cheeks. But last week the governor of Socotra, a sparsely populated island renowned for its exotic wildlife, sought to stamp out the habit by banning the import or chewing of qat. According to Yemeni media, Saeed Ba Huqaiba introduced to the ban due to the health risks and financial consequences of qat use. Local officials said on Saturday they had intercepted and burnt a shipment of two tonnes of qat smuggled from the Hadramout ...the formerly independent Qu'aiti state and sultanate, annexed by Communist South Yemen in 1968, encompassing a region along the Gulf of Aden, extending eastwards to the borders of the Dhofar region of Oman. The people are called Hadhramis and speak Hadhrami Arabic. The city Tarimis is estimated to contain the highest concentration of descendants of the Prophet Muhammad (PTUI) anywhere in the world, approximately seven in every square yard... province on the Yemeni mainland. Qat is classified by the World Health Organization as a "drug of abuse that can produce mild to moderate psychological dependence". Its physical symptoms can include hallucinations, depression and tooth decay. Past surveys in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... suggest at least 80 percent of men, about 60 percent of women and increasing numbers of children under 10 - settle down most afternoons to chew. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |