dagblog - Comments for "The Politics of Qat: How one plant explains Yemen's dysfunction."

your mileage may differ

jollyroger — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 07:56:20 +0000

your mileage may differ

Perhaps you didn't notice: I'm a hippy. I'm not likely to be found clutching my pearls because people are getting high...I believe that drugs should be cheap, plentiful, and ubiquitous.

a gram is better than a

jollyroger — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 07:39:36 +0000

In reply to I'm not clear on why this

a gram is better than a damn...

I'm not clear on why this

artappraiser — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 05:42:17 +0000

In reply to The referenced "bitter taste"

I'm not clear on why this practice is considered a problem

I thought he made a pretty strong case in the extensive captions in the slideshow; I don't even need to read his book-length version to be convinced. I am also convinced he's overplaying it. That doesn't mean it's not a major, major problem, economically, sociologically, politically, and in many other ways.

I'll grant you that if you are the kind of person that thinks the society described in Brave New World wasn't all that bad, your mileage may differ.

The referenced "bitter taste"

jollyroger — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 15:42:09 +0000

In reply to From the caption to Slide

The referenced "bitter taste" is, of course, the tell tale signature of the presence of an alkaloid...cf. the coca leaf chewing culture in the Andean countries. I'm not clear on why this practice is considered a problem, exactly, but then, I would say that...(it all goes back to the Chinese herbalists and their *Ma Huang based tea, in search of which I mastered enough Mandarin to buy the plant in Chinatown (which you could do, back in the day, provided you didn't ask in english).

That bitter taste surfaces anytime a psychoactive alkaloid with stimulant characteristics is present.

*One concerned herbalist looked at me sincerely and unburdened himself "Don't use Ma Huang, don't do it" which I took to be the Chinatown version of "speed kills"...

From the caption to Slide

artappraiser — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 06:26:31 +0000

In reply to The Politics of Qat: How one plant explains Yemen's dysfunction.

From the caption to Slide #15:

Prior to Yemen's unification, qat use in southern Yemen was either entirely banned, in areas like Hadramawt or Socotra island, or restricted to weekends, in areas like Aden. The liberalization of qat use in southern Yemen since unification has not been beneficial for the region. Spending on qat has skyrocketed, while spending on essentials such as food, medicine, and clothing has fallen off. Yemen's 2005-2006 household budget survey revealed that Yemeni families on average spend 10 percent of their budget on qat, while in poor households the share is closer to 40 percent. The same survey also showed that in southern governorates like Aden or Lahij, families spent 11 times as much on qat as they spend on education and up to six times as much as they spend on health care.

The photos, taken by the author, and their captions. are all very interesting.