Phnom Penh (FN), July 12 - Ministry of Health announced to ban the import, exhibition, and usage of a flowering plant called Khat which contains addictive substances Cathinone and Cathine, according to the ministry’s prakas dated on 10 July 2018.

The ministry and relevant authorities will collect and destroy all the above plant.

Any companies, pharmacies, or institutions that did not implement accordingly will be subject to law on drug control.

Khat is a flowering plant native to countries in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula like Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia and Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and parts of Jordan and Iraq.

Khat contains the alkaloid cathinone, a stimulant, which is said to cause excitement, loss of appetite, and euphoria.

The World Health Organization (WHO) classified it in 1980 as a drug of abuse.
=FRESH NEWS