Qat in Yemen

Chewing Qat in Yemen is a national past time, but one that has become severely detrimental to the already fragile Yemeni economy. For those of you who are not familiar, Qat is a plant whose leaves are chewed and stored in a large mass in the cheek for hours on end (the Arabic verb used to describe the chewing of Qat is تخزن which literally means 'to store') . This stimulant's side-effects are comparable to those of most Amphetamines (like Adderall). The chewer experiences excitement and a medically recognized "euphoric state" as well as lack of appetite. Many first time users report that they can remain awake for days, but sometime experience headaches when the effects of the Qat are wearing off. As you can see in this graph that charts the physical harm and dependence level of Qat (Khat), it remains far less "dangerous" than alcohol, tobacco, or cannabis (The Lancet, January 2008, British medical journal). That is one reason why it is puzzling that it is an illegal/prohibited substance in most developed counties, excluding the UK and Israel.

Why is Qat so popular in Yemen? First of all, the trees are evergreen and can be harvested 3-5 times per year which means that the farmer has a year-round source of income (the trees need to be heavily watered, but other than that the trees require little attention), and a reliable one at that. Reliable income? Yes, because an extremely large percentage of the population chews, according to the Encyclopedia of Yemen, 2003, 70-80% of people in Yemen between the ages of 18-50 chew Qat. I can confirm this with my own experience there--I literally met 5 people who did not chew Qat the entire time I was there.

So, what is the point here? The point is, that Yemen is predicted to be one of the first countries to ever "run out of water," and their main cash crop is sucking up all of the water. And not far behind water, is running out of oil. And thus, any exportable good. Which equals money, which equals more poverty...in the most impoverished nation in the Middle East. So, the US government decides to send Israel billions of dollars, so that we can simultaneously refuse to help the Yemenis and make them poorer. All the while keep in mind, that poverty breeds desperation and frustration, and we want to call Yemen the new "Al-Qaeda breeding ground," so that we can drop bombs and refuse to take partial responsibility for making them this way.

Lesson: dropping bombs is what you do when you screw up and you just want the proof of your transgressions to disappear.