This is a very complicated issue. First of all “Chat” is not cocaine, and treating Chat as if it were a dangerous drug is absurd and irresponsible. Chat is a socially acceptable stimulant that has been used by the people of the region for thousands of years. Chat is as imporatnt to the people of East Africa for socilaization purposes as Wine is to the French. Or as Chewing Coco leaf (the plant that actually turns into Cocaine) is for the people of Bolivia, Peru and other Latin American countries. Of course, there is evidence of toxicity or addiction in all three.

Recently, the International Narcotics Control Board called on the governments of Bolivia and Peru to ban coca chewing, as well as its sale or export. The indigenous people of the Andes have chewed coca for thousands of years, so naturally, the call fell on deaf ears in the Andes.

Reaction from Bolivia was swift: “In Bolivia, there will never be a policy of zero coca,” said Hilder Sejas, spokesman for the vice ministry of social defense. “To do so would walk over the rights of millions of Bolivians for whom coca is a symbol of our cultural identity.”

The same argument should apply to Chat.