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| Arabia |
| Yemen president to stop chewing qat |
| 2007-12-22 |
| Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh has decided to gradually reduce his consumption of the narcotic qat leaf after having medical tests in Germany, according to local press reports on Friday. The Al-Thawra and Al-Motamar dailies said Saleh would also stop attending the maqil, or circle of friends devoted to chewing qat, in favour of "meeting the people and personalities from the political and cultural worlds to hear their opinions on questions of national interest." Saleh returned to Yemen on December 15 from Germany where he underwent medical tests. In 1999 he launched a campaign to stop civil servants, military and police from chewing the evergreen leaf, that goes by the Latin name of "catha edulis," while on duty. But that scheme, and another one during Yemen's Marxist rule which attempted to curtail chewing to the weekend, have been largely unsuccessful. Qat contains cathin and cathinone, two chemical substances similar in effect to amphetamines, raising blood pressure and body temperature, as well as releasing adrenalin. In Yemen, considered one of the world's poorest countries with an average monthly salary of 120 dollars, both men and women chew the narcotic leaves. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 "Whoa dude! You mean the presdiential sash wasn't always green? Eeewwwwwww" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-12-22 07:07 |