The leaves of the plant khat (Catha edulis) are commonly chewed in Arabian Peninsula and certain countries of the East Africa. The leaves of which are chewed for largely cultural and stimulant reasons. In this paper, a review of the scientific literatures on the relationship between khat use and psychosis and potentiality of dependence. To understand khat use, it is needed to discuss khat pheno...

OBJECTIVE Khat consumption has become a worldwide phenomenon broadening from Eastern Africa and the south west of the Arabian Peninsula to ethnic communities in the rest of the world. Only few studies have systematically looked into cognitive impairments in khat users. We studied whether khat use is associated with changes in the emergence and resolution of response conflict, a central cognitiv...

BACKGROUND Chewing fresh leaves of the khat plant (Catha edulis forsk) is a deep rooted and widespread habit in East Africa and the Middle East. Although a body of knowledge exists about the adverse effects of khat on health, data are sparse with regard to the consequences of long-term khat chewing in resulting schizophrenic like symptoms. METHODS A crude extract of khat at different doses (1...

F. WHO Review History: The WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) and other UN bodies reviewed khat at earlier occasions. The Advisory Committee on the Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs of the League of Nations discussed on the subject in 1933, but no action was taken. On request of the Commission on Narcotics Drugs (CND), the Expert Committee on Addiction-Producing Drugs (as t...

BACKGROUND Recent evidence suggests that many individuals who chew khat recreationally also drink ethanol to offset the stimulating effect of khat. The objective of this study was to describe the separate and interactive effects of chronic ethanol and khat exposure on key projection neurons in the cortex and hippocampus of young adult male rats. METHODS Young adult male Sprague Dawley rats we...

Objective: Khat is a habit forming substance widely used in Middle East countries and found to have huge societal and healthcare implications.This study was intended to estimate the possible interference of with antipsychotic medications and to investigate the frequency of relapse associated with concurrent use of anti depressants and khat. Methods: 69 Patients suffering from paranoid schizophr...

BACKGROUND The current study's aim is to evaluate the possible interaction effects of khat chewing on treatment of paranoid schizophrenic patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS In the study group, 42 male subjects suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and were classified according to their khat chewing habits into two subgroups: either khat-chewer subgroup (SKc; n=21; r=11, h=10) or non-khat-chewer su...

INTRODUCTION Khat is a cultivated plant whose leaves when chewed elevate mood. Unlike the chewing of betel nut, no association between the white oral mucosal lesions in khat users and oral malignancies has been reported. Chewing of khat has been documented in many countries and has increased with worldwide migration. The impact of chewing khat upon the oral mucosa is essentially unknown. PURP...

INTRODUCTION Khat (Catha edulis) is a recreational psychoactive drug with psychostimulant properties. While the use of this drug is widespread in eastern Africa, including the Horn of Africa, surveys and anecdotal data show that its use has become cosmopolitan, with users now living in Europe and North America as well. Recent data in Uganda suggest an increasing pattern of simultaneous khat and...

BACKGROUND Khat is a well-known natural stimulant from the Catha edulis plant and is widely used in certain Red Sea countries, including Yemen and the province of Jazan in Saudi Arabia. Jazan is located in the southwestern part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia adjacent to Yemen, where the practice of khat chewing is deeply rooted throughout the entire population. The main objective of this paper ...