The Self-Proclaimed Revolutionary Democrat Is Not Willing to Fight Against the Spread of Khat Addiction

In a country where poverty-stricken youth population resorts to substance abuse, be it cigarettes, alcohols or khat (a drug of abuse traditionally chewed in the Horn of Africa and Middle East), the self-proclaimed Revolutionary Democrat, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, has indicated that he's not willing to fight against the spread of khat addiction by deploying law enforcement forces.

(Source: Addis Fortune - From the Horse's Mouth - 9/22/2008)

In Finfinne (Addis Ababa) alone, thousands of unemployed young people spend their afternoons chewing khat leaves and drinking alcohols afterwards - all due to hopelessness and lack of opportunity created for them by the government. It is also not uncommon to see students, as young as high-school freshmen, skipping schools and heading to khat-selling kiosks. When these khat addicts run out of money, they turn to petty crimes to satisfy their addictions. What's more, many experts link khat addiction with the spread of HIV-AIDS disease.

It is despicable, therefore, for the Prime Minister to ignore one of the major social problems of urban areas. Even though the root causes of the khat addiction are the social and economic despairs brought about by the government's policies, law enforcement forces should have been deployed to fight against the spread of the addiction. At least the law enforcement forces should protect minors from the khat kiosks and charge those kiosks serving minors. Of course, for a repressive government like that of Ethiopia, it is always preferable if the population boozed itself with addictive substances in order to maintain the status quo without any opposition and, especially, to keep the young from protesting against injustice. Furthermore, Prime Minister Zenawi would rather have his law enforcement forces squash political dissents than tackle real social problems.