Surge in refugees at polls expected to make narcotic curbs an election issue

A BLITZ on the use of khat – the green leaf narcotic favoured by Somalians – is threatening to become an election issue as politicians face the prospect of thousands of Africans voting in Camden for the first time.
The past four years have seen a surge in the so-called “invisible voters” from the borough’s mushrooming Somali community – which now represents just under a tenth of Camden’s overall population – who have become eligible to sign onto the electoral register.
They are largely sons and daughters of refugees who left Somalia at the start of the civil war in the early 1980s. Having now gained British citizenship, they have been encouraged to register in time for next year’s expected general election.
The influence of the Somali vote is expected to be even greater in the 2006 council elections when large communities which have developed in Kentish Town, Gospel Oak and Kilburn could help swing ballots in closely contested council wards.
Surveys suggest that 70 per cent of Somalis are likely to support Labour. Party organisers now hope to recruit Somali candidates to stand for the council.
“We want to see Somalis standing for election in 2006,” said deputy council leader Councillor Sue Vincent, who was one of the speakers at a Somali conference in Bethnal Green on Saturday morning.
“The interest has been there but we have to make sure they see how they can make a difference.”
The growing numbers of eligible Somali voters will focus attention on government plans to control khat, the addictive stimulant blamed for deep divisions in the Somali community.
The issue came up at the Town Hall two years ago when Somali campaigners became the first representatives of an African refugee community to address the full council.
Unlike in other European countries, khat is legal in the UK, although its active ingredients are graded class C substances. Commonplace in Somalia, it is usually chewed but is also often brewed in tea, providing a short-term, euphoric high.
But the drug has been linked to long-term health problems such as memory loss and mental health difficulties. With concern mounting over the spread of khat among young Somali men, ministers are considering outlawing its use – a move which some Somalis fear could criminalise large sections of their community.
A final decision on what to do next could be delayed until after the general election.
The New Journal has found that khat is readily available, sold at less than £5 a clump. Reporters visited a house in Kentish Town, which neighbours had crudely termed a “khat den”, on Friday morning. Several men who had finished working low-pay night shifts were drinking khat tea and chewing stems. One man said: “People don’t get upset about people smoking cannabis in their own homes. Why can we not do what is natural to us? We are not dealing drugs in Camden High Street.”
Although many of the group only had a basic grasp of English, the men indicated they would be voting, if they could, at next year’s election.
Another Somali man, a supermarket shelf-stacker, added: “The politicians should not get involved. This is not like smoking crack cocaine. There is no danger to others.”
Khat is an ingrained part of Somali culture, with khat rooms built into traditional Somali houses. Users say it is taken much in the same way as Westerners use alcohol – as a social relaxant and stimulant, pointing out that as Muslims they do not drink. But campaigners say that the culture does not transfer well to Britian because problems of unemployment and isolation mean khat is used much more often.
Margot James, the Conservative challenger to Holborn and St Pancras Labour MP Frank Dobson, has placed new focus on shutting down “khat houses”.
She intervened last month to help close a meeting point in Camden Street, Camden Town, which neighbours had complained was causing round-the-clock disturbance.
“Residents were being kept awake by this problem,” said Ms James. “Visitors were hostile to the woman who lived next door, while khat fumes were going into her house”
Mohammed Nur, from the Somali Welfare Association, said: “Khat has caused problems in our community but it has now come into the mainstream.We want a ban . It can cause gum cancer. How much is that going to cost the NHS?”
Nuradin Dirie, who is employed by Camden Council’s planning office but lives in Islington, where he is part of a campaign to encourage Somalis to vote, said: “Khat is an important issue because there are a lot of men using it. It damages the community.
“But if you make it illegal then it will criminalise a lot of the community.