KEMRI Changes Tune and Now Says Miraa Has Severe Effects on Mental Health

Wadhi wakuchana miraa, siku zenu zimehesabika. Raondi hii itakuwa ngori wazito!

Miraa is a Kenyan street term for Khat. Many other countries have the street term for it; Also referred to as qat in Yemen, tschat in Ethiopia.

It is a flowering evergreen shrub. Khat that is sold and abused is usually just the leaves, twigs, and shoots of the Khat shrub.

There has been a difference in opinion about the effects of this herb as many scientific kinds of research have given different findings regarding its effect.

For instance, On June 24, 2014, a shrub made headlines. The U.K.’s Home Secretary Theresa May announced that khat, also known as miraa in East Africa, would be made illegal, following other similar bans of the plant in Western nations with large East African diaspora populations.

In March 2017, a new study in Nairobi says miraa (khat) chewing causes serious mental problems in humans.

The report came weeks after Government scientists gave the herb a clean bill of health.
Published last week by the University of Nairobi (UoN) and University of Konstanz, Germany, it reported high rates of mental illnesses among heavy miraa users in Nairobi.

Heavy miraa users, the study says, are depressed, suffer from the post-traumatic disorder (PTSD) and psychosis expressed as hallucinations and delusions.

PTSD is a mental health problem caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing events.
The new study led by Dr Michael Odenwald of the University Konstanz is published in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

Last month, scientists at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) released results of a two-year study which had investigated the health effects of miraa chewing in Embu and Meru counties.

The results presented at the institution’s annual scientific conference in February showed the herb has no negative health impact on users.

Ironically, Kemri has now changed on their earlier report and now states that Miraa is bad for mental health.

It will be surprising to realize the number of people who have been misled by the Kemri. They gave their report amid ban of the substance in many western nations.

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