Miraa Information

NAIROBI, Kenya - To the untrained eye, it's just a banana leaf tacked to a door sill. To the connoisseur, it's a sign that the J-G Store lives up to its claim: Quality Miraa.

"This is the best," says John, the clerk, unwrapping a small bundle of stems with reddish-green leaves. "It's very tasty."

Nearby, a few customers nod in happy agreement, well on their way to the euphoric buzz that helps soften the squalor of one of Nairobi's worst slums.

Also known as khat (pronounced cot), miraa is a natural stimulant derived from a shrub that flourishes in Kenya and other parts of East Africa. The stems and leaves are harvested daily, wrapped in banana leaves to stay fresh and sold in hundreds of ramshackle joints like J-G, where the bright green leaf over the door signals that a new shipment has arrived.
The miraa trade doesn't end there. Legal in many countries, miraa is so popular it has become one of Kenya's chief exports, still behind tea but now ahead of coffee.
Every day, planes from 747s to twin-engine Beechcraft carry tons of miraa to Europe, the Middle East and other parts of Africa.

"It's a very big business for us," says Yatich Kangugo, manager of Nairobi's Wilson Airport. He estimates that half of Wilson's annual revenues derive from miraa shipments to neighboring Somalia, where chewing the stems and leaves is almost a national pastime.
Miraa is banned in the United States, which lists its main compound, cathinone, as a Schedule I substance, the same as heroin and ecstasy.

While the $250-million-a-year export trade is a boon to Kenya's struggling economy, there is growing concern that miraa is hurting society.

A recent survey found that almost a fourth of all students in Nairobi use miraa, many in the belief it will help them stay awake while reading. In eastern Kenya, with a large population of Somali origin, almost 80 percent of adults chew the substance.

Kenya's passion for miraa drew international attention last month when a Kenyan boxer was expelled from the Olympics because he failed a drug test. It turned out he had been chewing miraa on the plane to Athens, Greece.

"It is no longer a secret that drug abuse is increasingly becoming a serious problem in the country," a Nairobi paper said, citing miraa in particular.

Concern over miraa even spills into politics. East Africans have cheered the news that warring factions in Somalia are making progress in peace talks that could lead to the first functioning government there since 1991. But some delegates to the talks, held in Nairobi, worry that the Somali obsession with miraa could undermine negotiations.

"Our men have become lazy over the years because of the widespread trade that forces them to just sit and enjoy the product," Eng Rukia Osman, an anti-miraa activist, told the Inter-Press Service.

"Our children have nothing to eat, let alone go to school, because their fathers cannot work. Now that peace is in the air we have to look at ways of reconstructing the country in all respects."
Throughout East Africa and the Middle East, miraa has long been popular among Muslims who consider it an acceptable alternative to alcohol and other mood-altering substances frowned on by Islam. Many Muslims chew it during the fasting month of Ramadan because it suppresses the appetite.

Miraa comes from the Catha edulis plant, a bushy shrub that can grow to 20 feet. The leaves contain cathinone, which produces a euphoric effect similar to amphetamines, and cathine, a less stimulating substance.

Within 48 hours after the plant has been cut, the cathinone starts to degrade, leaving only the milder cathine. Thus the preference for fresh leaves.

Customers usually buy a half pound of miraa at a time, with prices in Kenya ranging from $1.50 to almost $10, depending on the quality. The bark is stripped off with the teeth and chewed along with the leaves, gradually producing large wads of miraa that cause the cheeks to bulge out chipmunk-style.

Aficionados say miraa keeps them happy and alert for long periods.
"It sharpens the brain," says Steven Sande, who drives a matatu, or minibus. "If I chew I can work 24 hours and not be tired."

Critics complain that the use of miraa by matatu drivers contributes to the appalling accident rate. But Sande, 28, says he rarely chews miraa at work, instead buying it only on weekends "when I have time to relax and meet with friends."