Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Cllr Janet Duncan. Cllr Phoday Jarjussey substituted.

None.

It was confirmed that all items on the agenda were marked Part I and therefore considered in public.

The Committee agreed that minutes of 16 November 2010 were an accurate record of the meeting.

The Chairman welcomed the witnesses: Ed Shaylor (Senior Manager Community Safety, LBH), Liam Kenny (Vice chair, Community & Police Consultative Group) and Safer Neighbourhoods Team Officers (Townfield SNT).

Officers said there were two main elements of anti-social behaviour related to Khat: domestic violence and public nuisance. The recent closure of Khat houses in Hayes had been related to public nuisance such as spitting, urinating in public, heavy traffic, parking related problems and noise pollution. Since the closure of these houses in March 2010 only one house has reopened, but so far no problems had been reported. Officers informed the Committee that the Khat houses were shut down due to the public nuisance issues, and not due to the fact that Khat was being consumed here as it was a legal activity.

Officers informed the Committee that they did not have hard facts relating to domestic violence linked to Khat use, as most of their findings were anecdotal. Many women who experienced this did not report it due to the stigma attached to it. Officers said that Hillingdon Hospital’s Riverside Unit for mental health sufferers had taken in people who had used Khat and now suffered from schizophrenia and various other mental health issues. Officers believed that the mental health issues arose from the social disengagement and insomnia attached to Khat use.

Officers said the profile of something attending a Khat house was male, Somali, aged between 20 and 40. Older generations of Khat users would sit in the house and consume Khat for long periods of time and usually overnight. Younger generations would congregate outside the Khat houses to use illegal drugs such as Cannabis, and may also consume alcohol. As drugs are illegal in their religion the younger generations would attend Khat houses to perform these activities away from their own homes. It was usually these people who created the nuisance, not the older generations using Khat inside the house.

Heavy Khat users would chew Khat in the house, and then return to their own home to sleep during the day. These users would be isolated from the normal world, and would usually be unemployed. The routines of these users would usually lead to problems, not the actual Khat chewing, although Khat had been linked to mental health issues, high blood pressure, insomnia, lack of appetite and tooth decaying.

Officers informed the Committee that they had stopped some Khat users driving whilst high from Khat, but as Khat use was legal they could not enforce any laws on this activity.

Although Khat has been seen as a cultural habit Officers told the Committee that it was frowned upon and had only become accepted as the older generations used it. Only sub-cultures within the Somali community used Khat.

Officers said banning Khat would cause the problem to go underground and cause the price of Khat to skyrocket. Health warnings needed to be attached to it, along with regulation. The Committee asked whether classification of the substance would help this, and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

To Note:

The Committee noted the Forward Plan.

Agreed:

The Committee agreed the Work Programme.