Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment the Government has made of the effect of the ban on khat.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Khat was controlled as a Class C drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 in 2014.

The 2015/16 Crime Survey England and Wales found that 0.06% of adults aged 16 to 59 in the general population had used khat in the last year, equivalent to around 20,000 people. This is similar to 2014/15 (0.05%) but a statistically significant fall compared with 0.2% in the previous two survey years when khat was measured (2010/11 and 2011/12).

We will continue to monitor the situation in relation to khat as appropriate, including through recommendations from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. Our approach to drugs remains clear: we must prevent drug use in our communities and help dependent individuals to recover, while ensuring our drugs laws are enforced.