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In the name of Allah the merciful the kind
Dear Viewers welcome
To this special episode dedicated
to discussing the issues of qat in
the community its problems and the best
way to tackle qat and stop it
I Saddiq Abdi will
be your presenter today and
the show is coming to you live from
the ETN studios in London
With me this episode
Mr Abukar Awale
Who is a teacher here in the UK
He is also
one of the organisers
to ban qat in the UK
He is also a previous user of the qat drug and
has experienced the problems of the drug
With us also is Sheik
Said Abukar
Who is a
a religious and community leader
We will discuss the issue of qat and its problems
with in the community we will also
discuss the best way to tackle this problem
And have a glance on the religious stance on qat
Dear viewers one show is not enough to tackle
the whole issue of qat in the community
the issue of qat needs many sessions to tackle it
The issue of qat has several underlying
issues and problems that is plaguing
the Somali Community both at home and the diaspora
this episode will mainly deal with the problems
created by qat consumption in the diaspora community
Especially those in Europe
and countries where qat is legal such as in the UK and Holland
Here in the UK a large section of our
Somali community consume the drug qat and
it creates for them many problems
some of these problems are visible whether
it be physical problems visible to the eye
or underlying mental problems
Back in Somali despite the problems
of qat it has some positives
as it can be a source of income
for the impoverished population
being a second source of income for
a mother trying to raise her children
Dear viewers going back to our
main point of talk about qat
Starting with our first guest Mr Abukar Awale
the anti qat campaigner
who wants qat
to be banned here in the UK
he has been campaigning for six years to ban qat
I would to phrase my first question to him
why is it that you want
qat to be banned and what are your reasons
behind your anti qat stance
Salam alaikum all and Sadiiq
Thank you for the introduction,
about my anti qat stance in very few words
We have a saying in somali
'' he who is burned in fire knows to stir clear''
I have experienced its problems
yes
This qat nearly tore my family apart
Qat caused me to lose my self confidence
I couldn't hold a job because of it
It prevented me from reaching my goals and dreams
and in the end I nearly lost my life as i was
stabbed three times because of qat
stabbed three times because of qat
That was the day i decided to give up
Abukar if you could
tell us your experience of
consuming qat how did it feel
how did you feel without the qat and how did you after consuming the qat
Tell me and the audience of your
experience with the qat drug? and how
it used to make you feel
Well in the qat eating circles they
say you eat qat to get marqaam (high)
Now if i was to define marqaam to you
marqaam is
is a plan in your mind
things you wish to do as if doing it
as though
you are living your dreams
you also feel regret
and worries all of these feeling combined
tell us how you felt when you were
about to eat the qat and did the maraqaam
begin before or after consuming the qat
Before the qat consumption
you start to feel
the want
this gets you to where the qat is sold
it makes you feel as though nothing
else is important as though all else can wait
That feeling takes you to where the qat
is sold and consumed
once you start eating
you feel the marqaam (high)
if you could describe more
how you feel as you ate the qat
what were the feeling you got
Well you don't feel hungry
and you don't feel tired either
you joke and chat with everyone
you forget about
all your other problems
and you become happy
as long as u are there
consuming the qat
but reality hits you hard again
once you finish the eating of qat
the home problems the work problems
all come back to your mind
once you spit out the qat you realise
your responsibilities and burdens again
This is when you feel regret about eating the qat
Abukar some people believe
that when they are consuming qat they
get a clear mind to think things through
That they find opportunities to plan with
a clear mind that they cant find elsewhere
without the qat
indeed there are
those who believe that way
that they can plan and think
about issues that way there are even Somali
poets that say they can't write without the use of qat
but what i focus on
is the percentages that can control their use of qat
it may be that only 20% can control their qat use
that they only use it to plan or write poetry
and the other 80% of people can't control their
use and live through the problems of qat addiction
Are you saying that
to eat small a,ounts of qat
is better than eating too much qat
some problems are lighter and easier than others
i believe that the man
who uses qat maybe once a month
or once a week
who is able to control his consumption
for that person we pray they stop
but i can accept that occasional use
doesn't that mean that you are
accepting the use of qat
as little use or large use has problems
i understand what you are saying
but
what I said was if you are able to
control the use of qat and it is used by poets
as you mentioned earlier
so for that special case only
for the guy who only uses qat one day
i can accept but the reality is
majority of people
can not control their use of qat
and as such for the majority we need
qat to stop
can it be said the problems of qat
will catch up to those who
even use small amounts
Yes eventually
Coming back to Sheik Said
You have heard
that Mr Abukar has said qat has
many problems
and before we look
at the religious view point
what would you comment
on Mr Abukar's view points on qat
what points do you agree or disagree with
In the name of Allah
the Merciful the Kind
and peace and blessings on the Prophet and his
companions and those who follow him
The issue of qat
is very important to our community
and when we deal with it
we need to precisely know what
we are dealing with to know
how to deal with the issue in the correct way
Now first question is to ask
why does someone eat qat