Legal Status of Khat in Selected Jurisdictions

May 2015

The Law Library of Congress, Global Legal Research Center

(202) 707-6462 (phone) • (866) 550-0442 (fax) • law@loc.gov • http://www.law.gov
This report is provided for reference purposes only. 

It does not constitute legal advice and does not represent the official 

opinion of the United States Government. The information provided 

reflects research undertaken as of the date of writing. 

It has not been updated.
Legal Status of Khat in Selected Jurisdictions

By the Staff of the Global Legal Research Directorate 

Law Library of Congress 

The following chart summarizes the legal status of khat (Catha edulis, also known as kat, qat, chat, and miraa), a plant whose leaves 

have a stimulant effect when chewed, in seven jurisdictions. It includes information regarding the legality of khat in each jurisdiction 

and, where it is banned, the applicable penalties. According to applicable tax laws or secondary sources, khat appears to be legal in 

Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Yemen, but is banned in Jordan. Its status in Turkey, where it is categorized as a controlled 

substance, is unclear. Whereas it is legal under Turkish law to produce, sell, import, and export khat with a license, it appears that 

consumption of the substance is banned. 

Country Legal Status of Khat Penalties 

Djibouti Legal1 N/A

Ethiopia Legal2 N/A

Jordan Banned

The law prohibits the export/import of any plants and seeds 

that could be used in the manufacturing of illegal narcotics 

or for substance abuse, and also prohibits the sale, purchase, 

transport, possession, swap, and delivery of such plants.3 

The general guide of customs mentions khat as a banned 

item among prohibited imported and exported goods.4

 

Two years in prison and a fine of up to Jordanian Dinar 

(JOD) 3000 (about US$4,234).5

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Legal Status of Khat in Selected Jurisdictions

Country Legal Status of Khat Penalties 

Kenya Legal 

At least one of the substance’s principal active components, 

cathinone, is a listed psychotropic substance under Kenyan 

law,

6 which technically makes khat a psychotropic substance 

and illegal (subject to some specific exceptions),7 but it is 

not listed as a prohibited plant.8

 It is also listed as a special 

horticultural crop along with fruit trees (including apple and 

citrus) and vegetables (including tomatoes and cucumbers).9

 

Secondary sources indicate that the production, 

consumption, sale, and export of khat is legal in Kenya.

10

N/A

Somalia Legal

A 1983 law banned the planting, import, and consumption of 

khat,

11 and mandated that existing khat plants be destroyed 

over a period of two years.12 The law imposed penalties in 

the form of custodial sentence, fines, and forfeiture of 

property used in the commission of a crime,13 and also 

imposed penalties on law enforcement agents found to be 

“reluctant, negligible or . . . lacking in vigour to stop the 

smuggling or farming” of the substance.14 The ban 

reportedly ended in 1989 and a widespread use of the 

substance resumed.15 Since the end of Mohamed Siad 

Barre’s regime in the early 1990s, the substance has 

remained legal in the country, with the exception if brief 

bans by the Islamic courts and later by Al-Shabab in the 

areas they controlled.

16

N/A

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Legal Status of Khat in Selected Jurisdictions

Country Legal Status of Khat Penalties 

Turkey Banned for use

Listed as controlled substance under the general scope of the 

country’s Law on the Control of Narcotic Drugs17 and 

specifically through a 2011 Decision of the Council of 

Ministers placing it on the list of controlled narcotic 

substances.18 Cathinone is item 3 on the list; cathine is item 

4, and the Catha edulis plant (khat) is item 5.19 

Legal for import/export, sale, transport, and production 

with license20 

Purchasing, accepting, or possessing narcotic or 

psychotropic substances for personal use: two to five 

years of imprisonment.21 

Import/export violations: twenty to thirty years of 

imprisonment and a fine of “up to 20,000 days in 

prison.”22

Selling, supplying, delivering, transporting, storing, 

purchasing, accepting, or carrying khat without, or in 

violation of, a license: ten years in prison and a fine of 

“up to 20,000 days.” 23 

If given or sold to a minor: minimum penalty of fifteen 

years’ imprisonment.

24

If violations committed within two hundred meters of 

facilities such as schools, dormitories, hospitals, and 

barracks, or places of worship, education, and similar 

public buildings: penalty increased by 50%.

25 

Yemen Legal26 N/A

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Legal Status of Khat in Selected Jurisdictions

1 CODE GÉNÉRAL DES IMPÔTS [GENERAL TAX CODE] arts. 115, 284 (Djibouti, 2011), http://www.ccd.dj/i/upload/textes/juridiques/codes-generales-des-impots.pdf.

2 Chat Excise Tax Proclamation 767 of 2012, FEDERAL NEGARIT GAZETA (Aug. 27, 2012), available on the Ethiopian Legal Brief website, at https://chilot.files. 

wordpress.com/2013/04/proclamation-no-767-2012-chat-excise-tax-proclamation.pdf; Gessesse Dessie, Is Khat a Social Ill? Ethical Arguments About a 

‘Stimulant’ Among Learned Ethiopian 5 (African Studies Centre (ASC), Working Paper No. 108/2013), available on the Leiden University website, at 

https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/20402/WP108.pdf?sequence=2; William Eckersley et al., Khat, Driver Impairment and Road Traffic 

Injuries: A View from Ethiopia, 88(3) BULL. WORLD HEALTH ORG. 235, 235 (Mar. 2010), http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/88/3/09-067512.pdf?ua=1. 

3 Law on Combatting Illegal Narcotics 11 of 1988, art. 6(a), 3540 AL-JARIDAH AL-RASMIYAH (Mar. 17, 1988), http://www.plc.gov.ps/menu_plc/arab/ 

.(Arabic in (htm.الاردن/قانون المخدرات والمؤثرات العقلیة/files

4 General Customs Guide, JORDAN CUSTOMS AUTHORITY, http://www.customs.gov.jo/chapter4.shtm (in Arabic; last visited May 05, 2015).

5 Law on Combatting Illegal Narcotics art. 7. 

6 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act of 1994, § 2, 14 LAWS OF KENYA, Cap. 245 (rev. ed. 2014), available on the Kenya Law website, at 

http://www.kenyalaw.org:8181/exist/kenyalex/actview.xql?actid=CAP.%20245; Khat Drug Profile, EUROPEAN MONITORING CENTRE FOR DRUGS AND DRUG 

ADDICTION, http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/drug-profiles/khat#chemistry (last visited May 5, 2015). 

7 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act §§ 2 & 3. 

8 Id., Third Sched. 

9 Agriculture (Declaration of Special Crops) (Horticultural Crops) Order, Agriculture Act, 1 LAWS OF KENYA, Cap. 318 (rev. ed. 2014), http://www.kenyalaw. 

org:8181/exist/kenyalex/sublegview.xql?subleg=CAP.%20318. 

10 NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, CATHA EDULIS (MIRAA): A DETAILED REVIEW FOCUSING ON ITS CHEMISTRY, HEALTH IMPLICATION,

LEGAL, SOCIAL, CULTURAL, RELIGIOUS, MORAL ASPECTS AND ITS CULTIVATION 31 (June 1996), http://oris.nacosti.go.ke/modules/library/publications/research_ 

reports/NACOSTI-DL-RR-1044.pdf; JOHN FITZGERALD, CENTRE FOR CULTURE, ETHNICITY & HEALTH, KHAT: A LITERATURE REVIEW 7 (Mar. 5, 2009), 

http://www.ceh.org.au/downloads/khat_report_final.pdf; President to Assent to Law Upgrading Miraa into a Cash Crop, MYGOV (Mar. 2, 2015), 

http://mygov.go.ke/president-to-assent-to-law-upgrading-miraa-into-a-cash/. 

11 SOMALIA DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND NATIONAL GUIDANCE, WHY KAT WAS PROHIBITED IN SOMALIA 64 (Mar. 1983); A.S. Elmi 

et al., Experience in the Control of Khat-Chewing in Somalia, UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME (Jan. 1, 1987), http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/ 

data-and-analysis/bulletin/bulletin_1987-01-01_2_page006.html. 

12 Id.

13 Id. at 65. 

14 Id. 

15 SUSAN BECKERLEG, ETHNIC IDENTITY AND DEVELOPMENT: KHAT AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN AFRICA 8–9 (2010). 

16 Id. at 9; Hamza Mohamed, ‘Khat’ Comeback Allows Somalis to Chew On, ALJAZEERA (Mar. 13, 2013), http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/03/ 

2013312104041307283.html; Khat Traders in Kenya Suspend All Exports to Somalia, SAHAL NEWS (Feb. 15, 2015), http://www.sahalnews.com/?p=16317. 

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Legal Status of Khat in Selected Jurisdictions

17 Uyuşturucu Maddelerin Murakabesi Hakkinda Kanun [Law on the Control of Narcotic Substances], Law No. 2313 (Dec. 6, 1933), art. 19, http://www.mevzuat. 

gov.tr/MevzuatMetin/1.3.2313.doc. 

18 Bakanlar Kurulu Karari [Decision of the Council of Ministers] (Jan. 7, 2011), No. 2011/1310, http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2011/02/20110213-4.htm. 

19 Id. 

20 Uyuşturucu Maddelerin Murakabesi Hakkinda Kanun, various articles—e.g., art. 5 on importation requiring customs documents, art. 15 on retail sale and 

prescription in conformity with the Pharmacists and Pharmacies Act. No no one specific “positive” article on licensing for import/export, sale, etc. was identified.

21 Türk Ceza Kanunu, Law No. 5237 (Sept. 26, 2004, as amended), art. 191(1), http://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/MevzuatMetin/1.5.5237.pdf (in Turkish); Criminal 

Code, Law No. 5237 (Sept. 26, 2004), art. 191(1), available at http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTINFRANDLAW/Resources/040926Turkey 

CriminalCode.pdf (in English). 

22 Id. art. 188(1). 

23 Id. art. 188(3).

24 Id..

25 Id. art. 188(4)(b).

26 Khat cultivation is not criminalized and the substance is not listed as a controlled narcotic in Yemen. Law on Combating the Illegal Usage of Narcotics 3 of 

1993, art. 28, 6 AL-JARIDAH AL-RASMIYAH (Mar. 31, 1993), available at http://yemen-nic.net/db/laws_ye/detail.php?ID=11398&phrase_id=1178576 and 

http://www.sabanews.net/ar/news97125.htm (both in Arabic). The government imposes a 20% tax on khat consumption, further evidence of the substance’s 

legality. Public Sale Tax Law 42 of 2005, art. 64, 14 AL-JARIDAH AL-RASMIYAH (July 18 2005), available at http://www.yemen-nic.info/db/laws_ye/ 

detail.php?ID=19343 (in Arabic). 

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