{"id":287059,"date":"2019-08-27T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?guid=a7a32ed68172644085e8f7975f361522"},"modified":"2026-10-22T13:42:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T17:42:37","slug":"mekelle-rehab-centre-khat-addiction-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/287059","title":{"rendered":"A free rehab centre in Mekelle treated khat as a gateway to harder addictions, its director told AFP in 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

A state-run rehabilitation centre in Mekelle treated khat use alongside alcohol and drug addiction, a rare approach in a region where chewing the leaf is widely accepted, AFP reported in August 2019.<\/p>\n

\"Shoppers<\/figure>\n

Shoppers crowd a khat market in Ethiopia, photographed on October 25, 2007. The leafy stimulant is also known locally as chat. (A. Davey \/ Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0) [file photo]<\/em><\/p>\n

Welday Hagos, a clinical psychologist who directed the Substance Rehabilitation Centre, told the news agency it was Ethiopia\u2019s only free, long-term drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility. More than 80 percent of the 500 patients who had stayed there since it opened in 2015 started with khat, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that they add cigarettes, after that they add alcohol. That\u2019s why it is the main gate for different drugs,\u201d Welday told AFP. \u201cWe have to increase the knowledge of our population of the consequences of khat chewing.\u201d<\/p>\n

One patient, Yonas Getu Molla, began chewing khat as an architecture student to stay awake while studying, then turned to vodka and cannabis to get to sleep. He blamed the cycle for costing him his career, his savings and his family\u2019s respect. \u201cOne substance would follow the other substance,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s like a coin \u2014 the back and the front.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patients received individual and group therapy and medication for withdrawal symptoms, which Welday said ranged from irritability to nightmares and swings in appetite. The centre also offered spiritual sessions, exercise and entrepreneurship training. AFP noted that health experts disagree on how addictive khat is.<\/p>\n

Khat was Ethiopia\u2019s second-biggest export after coffee, with heavy trade to Djibouti and Somalia, and domestic use was growing, especially among university students, Welday said. A user in Addis Ababa could spend about $4 a day on khat from Harar, in a country where average annual income per person was $783, according to the World Bank figure AFP cited.<\/p>\n

Chewers in the Addis Ababa neighbourhood known as Little Mogadishu rejected the gateway-drug argument. \u201cWhen you do khat, it just makes you focus,\u201d Ousman Abdulahi told AFP.<\/p>\n

Mohammed Kelifa, 30, who chewed khat for nine years, said the habit ended his marriage. After three months at the centre, he said he had quit. \u201cI want to remarry and start a family and get my self-respect back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong> AFP via The Independent (Uganda) (Aug. 28, 2019)<\/a>, France 24\/AFP (Aug. 30, 2019)<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A state-run rehabilitation centre in Mekelle treated khat use alongside alcohol and drug addiction, a rare approach in a region where chewing the leaf is widely accepted, AFP reported in August 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":838088,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-287059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethiopian-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/khat-market-ethiopia-2007.jpg?fit=1280%2C851&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-1cFZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287059"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":838099,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287059\/revisions\/838099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/838088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}