Is Khat legal in Yemen?

Also known as: qat, miraa, quaadka

Legal status

Not named in Law No. 3 of 1993 on Combating Illicit Trafficking in and Use of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (قانون رقم (٣) لسنة ١٩٩٣م بشأن مكافحة الاتجار والاستعمال غير المشروعين للمخدرات والمؤثرات العقلية), in the 1993 text read. Khat, Catha edulis, cathinone and cathine appear in none of its 56 articles and none of its six annexed schedules; all 38 pages of the Arabic text were read as page images. Article 1(c) makes narcotic and psychotropic substances "المواد المبينة في الجدول رقم (١)" (the substances set out in Schedule 1), excluding the Schedule 2 preparations, and Article 1 describes Schedule 5 as the list of plants whose cultivation is prohibited "على سبيل الحصر" (exhaustively). Schedule 5 prints only Indian hemp, the opium poppy, all species of the papaver genus, and coca. Schedule 3, the substances subject to some of the restrictions, does not list khat, cathine or cathinone either. This cell states what this one Law says and nothing about any other Yemeni instrument.

Consequences if caught

Law No. 3 of 1993 creates no offence that names khat. Its penalty articles reach a narcotic substance, which Article 1(c) defines by Schedule 1, the plants listed in Schedule 5 (Articles 34(b), 38 and 39), the Schedule 3 substances, whose handling Article 27 prohibits (Article 45, and Article 46 for other contraventions of the Law), and khat is in none of those lists in the text read. Whether any other Yemeni law reaches khat was not examined. UNODC SHERLOC also reproduces articles 3, 12, 18 and 22 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance No. 13 of 1960, an Aden Colony ordinance whose article 3 speaks of a drug brought "into the Colony"; those excerpts concern opium and the alkaloids of opium and of the coca leaf and do not name khat, but the full Ordinance and any schedule to it were not read, and Law No. 3 of 1993 contains no article repealing it, its last article, Article 56, providing only for its entry into force and publication. Article 32 lets the Minister of Agriculture amend the schedules by deletion or addition by a decision "وينشر القرار في الجريدة الرسمية" (published in the Official Gazette), and no such decision was found or read.

If prescribed or medical

Law No. 3 of 1993 has no prescription rule for khat. Its prescription articles (Articles 14 to 17) and Schedule 4 govern narcotic substances dispensed by pharmacies, and khat is not among the substances the Law lists.

Documentation

The Arabic text read is the PDF that the Yemeni House of Representatives publishes in the legislative encyclopedia on its website, uploaded on 19 October 2018. It is published by a state body but is not an image of the Official Gazette, and its text layer garbles on extraction, so every page was read from a rendered image. The schedules as printed are a compilation: a note under Schedule 3 cites Article 3 of Minister of State for Health Decision No. 506 of 1981 and Ministerial Decisions No. 295 and No. 301 of 1976, and footnote markers stand on the Schedule 1 and Schedule 3 headings and on Schedule 4 items 51, 55 and 62 with no footnote text printed anywhere in the file. The English translation on UNODC SHERLOC was used as a cross check and agrees on every point this cell relies on. The cell says nothing about taxation, trade or custom, because the Law says nothing about them.

Drug laws and enforcement change and vary within a country. This is not legal advice. Always confirm with Yemen’s embassy or official drug authority before traveling; penalties can be severe, including imprisonment.