Miraa farming is not controlled by Al and Bob in the least. It is an important industry for KENYAN farmers in the regions that grow it, who make most of the money from its sale, as well as Ethiopian farmers, who would step in and fill the void if Kenya got out of the veve business. There are probably some Al and Bob consumers of chat, of course, because it's a favored Somali pastime, but they are certainly not profiting from its generation. Smuggling? That's a Swedish problem. They can tighten their customs controls.
As far as banning it from being farmed, would one consider banning the manufacture of Coca Cola because Al and Bob drink it? Coca Cola was originally made with cocaine; raise a flag if the veve farmers start planting coca plants!
Are the people that run Coca Cola (and khat, and cell phones) up and across the border "supporters of terrorism"? How about the makers of Petrol? Computers? Phones? Al and Bob love these things.
No one condemns Glock for making so many lovely plastic pistols. No one has called them "terror supporters". But you can bet that if the old Nyayo plant started making M16 rifle assemblies, legally and under the proper eye of the government, that the Western nations would have an absolute fit- because we'd be eating into their profits- though we have every right to manufacture whatever we want that our government deems acceptable, and to export whatever we want to any nation in the world, especially an African one.
This Al & Bob and khat profits connection sounds like Western propaganda. Eventually, people get tired of hearing Western rags pumping up the self-righteousness card. They manufacture everything from guns, to conventional and nuclear weapons, to drugs, etc etc, and preside over nations with the highest percentage of drug user citizens who create the world's largest demand for cocaine and opiates, yet I never hear African nations jumping down their throats constantly with the self-righteous nonsense, monitoring their industries, and sending diplomats to accuse people and add them to "terrorism sponsor" lists. That's just like the "drug trafficker list" - though it's a real issue that needs to be addressed, it's being used as a political tool to freeze money and cause division.
If it's legal, people are employed, and the KRA is getting paid, other nations should STAY OUT OF IT. In fact, they should stay out if it regardless- it's a Kenyan matter.
I'm not a supporter of anyone getting nasty-mouth from chewing miraa, but, I'm also not a supporter of getting heart disease from KFC chicken. And I'm certainly against terrorism. But if they feel that khat is so bad, shouldn't they be happy that Al and Bob are chewing it?
Cathinone's effect on the consumer is not much more than caffeine, and a lot less harmful than alcohol, and science is behind those facts, unlike the odd, baseless statements made by the author that say that khat leads to "selfishness and lower KCSE scores". But I am fairly sure that it leads to oral and gum issues in the untreated, uncleaned mouth, eventually. And if you are going to choose to be a zombie, you will do it with whatever is available, be it veve, cough syrup, glue, or chang'aa. That's not a drug issue, it's a mental issue.
Some would argue that it's a spiritual issue.
Best,
Hill