Tilburg and Uithoorn have welcomed the government’s plans to ban the narcotic plant khat (qat), which is mainly used in the Somali community.

‘This is very good news for locals and companies,’ Uithoorn mayor Dagmar Oudshoorn told news agency ANP on Tuesday.
Uithoorn is reported to be at the centre of the European khat trade. The drug is banned in most European countries.
‘Uithoorn has become the place to pick up khat and we are not pleased about that,’ Oudshoorn said.
Schiphol
The trade is concentrated on an industrial estate in the town, close to Schiphol airport where the drug is flown in. The mayor said sometimes as many as 200 cars are parked at the trading point. Khat loses its potency with 48 hours or so, so trade is brisk.
Once the ban is in place, the authorities can take action to close down the trading centre, if the drug is not seized at Schiphol, the town’s mayor said.
Tilburg has a sizeable Somali community which uses the drug and had already introduced a partial ban in northern parts of the city, using local byelaws, ANP said.
Illegal
The cabinet decision to ban the drug has been prompted by a report by the Trimbos institute. It says around 10% of users develop problems with khat, which in turn causes serious social problems.
Khat is to be classified as a class II soft drug, ministers told parliament on Tuesday.
The World Health Organisation has classified khat as a drug of abuse that can produce mild to moderate psychological dependence. It is still legal in Britain.
Earlier this month, A 28-year-old man from the Netherlands was arrested in Germany driving a rented van stuffed with 1.7 tonnes of khat.