The legality of Catha edulis in WA

[Khatman]

I believe that around about fifty years ago people brought ‘this pretty tree’ from the eastern states to WA and gave cuttings to friends. In the older suburbs of Perth Khat now grows in the front yards of a few peoples houses. In Perth we now have a growing community of African migrants who have discovered these trees and delight in stripping them bare. I have an agriculture degree and know a potential market when I see it. As a khat user myself I have being raising seedlings and I have been thinking about selling plants to these migrants. I don’t see a major moral problem with this since all the published journal articles suggest the negative health effects are minimal. However after seeing a news paper article a few weeks back about two men being arrested in for harvesting khat I started to wonder about its legality in WA (it turns out it was for trespassing). I have looked in the past and never found anything that said khat was illegal. So I decided I would look into it in more detail.

I first went to the Prohibited Plants and Prohibited Substances list. Catha edulis is not listed as a prohibited plant and cathinone is not listed as a prohibited substance. Khat does contain ephedrine and that is a controlled substance, however the amount present is below the legal limit. I also checked the Declared Weed list and khat is not there either. Via email I then contacted the WA Health Department and the Drub Advisory Centre and they weren’t too helpful. They simply directed me to internet documents about Khat which don’t say anything about it being illegal. It helps to have friends in useful places when you do this type of thing. I have relative who has just started working with the WA Drug Squad. I contacted them and was assured verbally that Khat is not illegal. It would have preferred it in writing but a verbal assurance will have to do. So based on that I think it is safe to say that Khat is not illegal in WA.

Finally though - I also have mate who is lawyer who I spoke with on the weekend. They have heard rumours that the powers that be are thinking about classing Khat as a poison! I am not sure if that is true because it doesn’t sound right, how is Khat a poison!?! However if the West African community is able to lodge some type of protest claiming Khat is important for cultural reasons we might have a case for halting any kind of ban. I am looking into this. If there any other WA people who can offer any advice here that would be appreciated.

Cheers

[mescalito]

I know you can apply for a personal import license like with kava...whether or not cultivation is legal I'm not sure.

Torsten will know though ;)

[occidentalis]

Respect for doing the research Khatman

there is indeed a potential market.

I first went to the Prohibited Plants and Prohibited Substances list.

Was this the Misuse of Drugs Act or the Poisons Act?

Another question you should ask is "is cathinone scheduled in the SUSDP and if so, does that make it illegal in WA?"

However the plant itself is definitely not illegal to grow so there is no doubt you would be able to grow and sell them as long as they weren't intended for consumption.

BTW I think I met those fellows you mention who were done for tresspassing to get khat. I was in court the same day as them .

I don’t see a major moral problem with this since all the published journal articles suggest the negative health effects are minimal

There can be significant mental health problems relating to khat use (or abuse) include psychosis.

It's a powerful drug. However saying this I don't think health issues should come into any argument of drug legality when some of the most harmful are legal.

[Torsten]

I've given up trying to work out if it is legal or not. Here is my take on it.

Cathinone is S9 in the SUSDP and hence any state that automatically incorporates the SUSDP into their drug list will also have cathinone in there even if it is not specifically listed. This applies to most states (incl WA).

I have a clear interpretation from the TGA that any preparation containing an S9 substance is deemed to be that substance. A leaf picked fresh off the plant is already deemed to be a rpreparation. Live plants are hence excluded.

So, when I pointed out to the TGA that SA has prosecuted under this interpretation, but that WA police have made statements that khta is legal, I was told that I would need to discuss this with the respective state departments as it is them that interpret and enforce the law.

Personally I would say according to my interpretation of the laws that khat foliage is illegal in all states. I should point out that I have never been wrong about any items that I identified as prohibited (I once got it wrong where I thought something was legal where in fact it wasn't). That's not to say I can't be wrong, but on the other hand this really isn't a guessing game, but rather a matter of familiarity with the laws and materials.

if khat foliage is illegal then this creates a problem with the ethnic community who can get licenses to import khat for personal consumption. Essentially these federal import licenses are against the respective state laws.

The way I see it is that as long as khat is not a major problem the authorities simply ignore the contradiction in the laws. Kinda like the way cops ignore bongs even though bongs are still illegal in most states (incl NSW).

None of these laws affect sales of plants though.

[Khatman]

Well, I appreciate the compliment but I probably could have put more effort into my research. One of the documents I looked at was the Khat information sheet put out by the Therapeutic Goods Administration at http://www.tga.gov.au/import/khatinfo.htm. The SUSDP available on the same site but I didn't look at it since it costs $20 to get a copy. The other acts can be found at http://www.austlii.edu.au/databases.html#wa and http://www.slp.wa.gov.au/statutes/swans.nsf.

I know that Khat can cause mental illness. Although I got the impression that it is pretty rare - it tends to be in people who are predisposed to mental illness and then only after abuse.

[apothecary]

I think the compliment is well deserved mate

I'm sure the sale of cuttings would go well, though obviously not as well as herb.

It annoys me that simply by muddying the waters to the extent they have, the TGA have created a situation where the substance is neither legal nor illegal, but the end is of course treating it as illegal for those who don't wish to cross the law.

Good luck.