Somali women demand government action on legal drug
Cameron Stewart; 23/7/08
It is a drug that cost Fartun Farah her marriage and one she says is fuelling domestic violence across the nation’s African community. But what makes her story unusual is that the drug in question, khat, is legal in Australia despite being banned in other countries such as the US, Canada and New Zealand. Now Ms Farah and a group of Somali women in Melbourne are taking on the men in their own community by pushing for Australia to also ban khat - an African shrub that is chewed for amphetamine-like effect - saying it is destroying the social fabric of African communities. “Each month, we see women walking into our centre saying khat is destroying their family,” says Ms Farah, who heads the East African Women’s Foundation in Melbourne.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24063019-5013404,00.html