Qat leaves, which resemble withered basil and have a strong odor, and the plant’s young buds both contain the alkaloid cathinone (which is similar to d-amphetamine) and the less potent stimulant cathine (d-norisoephedrine). After about 48 hours of being picked the cathinone in the leaves becomes cathine, leading users to prefer the ingestion of fresh leaves to achieve the drug’s full amphetamine-like effect. Euphoria, excitation, heightened sex-drive and aggression, and a strange effect on one’s sense of time are all common effects of qat usage, although some users can actually become somnolent from the drug, sometimes even resulting in semicoma. Although given as a folk cure for coughs and malaria, in addition to its common recreational usage, and considered by some to be effective in combating diabetes, there are no medically recognized benefits of qat consumption. However, harmful side effects do include constipation, hemorrhoids, hernias, loss of appetite, sexual dysfunction, paranoia and depression.

Qat is used today by huge segments of the population in countries like Somalia and Yemen, where it is estimated that up to 80% of the adult populations are habitual qat users. In Yemen especially, it is common for large groups of people to gather in a home to consume qat and converse. This practice has become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon in this country which is widely recognized for the high quality of the qat produced there. In Somalia, it is believed that the consumption of qat contributed to the ferocity and fearlessness with which Somalese fighters engaged American forces in Mogadishu in October of 1993, a conflict visually illustrated by the film Black Hawk Down.