However, the attention has been mainly negative. The present article maintains that the implications of the social use of khat are still largely unknown outside the core area. Here the author reviews the current use of khat, with special reference to the positive social aspects. This review is based on the author's own research among Somali refugees in the Netherlands. The lancet-shaped leaves are between 0.5 and 10cm long and 0.5 to 5cm wide.
Young leaves are a reddish green, later turning to yellow-green.
In areas with frost, the shrub grows no higher than 1.5 meters, but in places with more rainfall, like the highlands of Ethiopia and areas near the equator, khat trees can reach 20 metres. Khat is native to the eastern and southern regions of Africa, but it is grown extensively as a cash crop in Ethiopia, Yemen and the northern provinces of Kenya. It is also socially and economically important in the neighbouring areas of Somalia and Djibouti. Khat wood is seldom used, and then only for household utensils. It is the fresh leaves that are important, mainly as a stimulant, whereby the effect is obtained by chewing.