Updated: Somali arraigned after 10kg drugs find

N.Vella, I am not sure if I am understanding your point but if I am I would like to say this. Of course while ingesting a legal drug I do not think about severe side effects, but if you refer to the information safety leaflets that are found with most medicines, severe potential side effects such as then ones I mentioned can still be found. Thus, the same terms are used for legal drugs as well because their misuse might give similar effects to those given off by illegal substances.

As a result, such descriptions are not used to label a drug illegal or harmful but to describe the possible effects of all drugs. In fact when pharmaceutical companies apply for a patent to market a drug, if a regulatory board such as the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) rejects the drug because of possible severe side effects, the drug cannot be marketed. This makes all drugs fall in the same class. Drugs that are bound to be legal will be deemed illegal to manufacture if they have severe symptoms on human systems.

Regarding your comment "Humans made substances illegal and legal..we invented the concept", I am sure that the concept exists to protect vulnerable people who rely on such harmful substances! By looking at all the drug victims, one should not even justify the cause of such a concept because it is there for the good of our society.

I do not feel the need to specify on the problems drug dependency brings on families, the society in general and the victims themselves!

Humans made substances illegal and legal..we invented the concept. even legal substances can be lethal if abused of, it all depends on the person. what i was trying to say is that you cant use the argument a drug is a drug and thats it.

and for the phrases i was referring to your mentioning of high blood pressure, swelling in the lungs etc. im sure you dont use those phrases when you take any legal substance which while induce them, they are just used when mentioning illegal subtsances. i did not attack any medical schools. now you can see why i said nobody can have a debate on this.

@N.Vella
And your point is...?

N.Vella, you cannot look into legal and illegal substances through the same magnifying glass because it is their different effects on the human system that divides them into such classes. Legal drugs do have side effects but are awarded a patent proving that their target is to cure. Illegal substances do much more harm than good, actually they are almost totally harmful. As a result they are termed illegal.

And regarding the use of your so called "medical terms", it does not mean that because a well informed person on such a subject uses precise words which you might have never heard of, means that I am trying to paint a worse picture on illegal substances. The only possible word I wrote that could have been strange is "amphetamines". Well for your information, that is the word used for a specific family of drugs. If by your standards that is not good, then the pharmaceutical world should resign and hand all its work to you to decide what is acceptable and what’s not!

@phil: can you please explain what do you mean by the word drugs? for me it is anything from legal medicine to illegal substances.

and for those of you using meidical terms to explain to side effects of such substances, why dont we look into legal substances from the same magnifying glass. just trying to make things look worse because we label them as 'drugs'. its pathetic that in 21st century we cannot even hold a rational debate over such things and cannot inform ourselves properly, just have a stereo type and thats it.

Khat is legal in Somalia because the only way to stay and live in such a dispicable country to be high on drug whatever one call them. Why is it, there is such a huge number of Somalis in Europe? And does this drug user expects the authorithies to believe that he needs 10kgs for personal use. The only way to stop importation and profitiering from the miseries they cause to others and the parents, is to make sentences long enough that the culprits will only get one chance to do it once, then a one way ticket to jail. Until severer sentences are dished out the problem will keep getting bigger and the youngsters keep getting damaged. It is time to stop pussy footing about and show the would be drug trafficers that Malta means bussiness when it comes to protecting its people.

Diversity brings also diversity in drugs.

I hope the costs of the court/police etc etc will be made payable on the account of illegal immigration.

Wake up Maltese people ,when you push these people they will call you racist .

Cigarettes (and tobacco) are also legal, but if they were to be introduced today they would be banned.

Mr Paul Caruana, I do not know the level of knowledge you have on drugs within the health and legal sectors, but it is ultimately premature to make such a judgement just because one country allows the importation and sale of the particular mentioned drug.

Khat is said to lift an individual's spirit and energy levels because it is similar to amphetamines, thus causing excitement and euphoria. Khat stimulates the nervous system and as a result may be addictive. Amphetamines are regarded as Class B drugs in the UK. Even though khat is not an amphetamine, it gives similar effects......a contradiction in the UK's legal system! That is why many groups have been trying to impose pressure on authorities in order to ban such drugs.

Severe symptoms of khat MAY include liver damage, kidney damage, heart attacks, bleeding into the brain, fluid or swelling in the lungs and high blood pressures. Other side effects that are associated with the use of khat are stomach upset, expanded pupil size in the eyes, hallucinations, loss of appetite, rapid heart rate, reduced urination and constipation!

As a result I do not know how you came about "All qat does is keep you alert and give you constipation".

DRUGS are DRUGS

Qat (or khat) isn't much of a drug at all, which is why the British had the good sense not to ban it. You can buy qat from any east African grocery in London, which is why this poor man was allowed to board a plane in London with 10 kilos of the stuff. All qat does is keep you alert and give you constipation. We may as well ban espressos and imodium.

This is the second time that this type of drug was found in Malta. The first one was brought over to Malta from Holland by an immigrant seeking better economic life after leaving Libya. This is a common type of drug used in countries such as Somalia, Ethopia etc. So I am sure this was not intended for the local ones but rather for the one's living temporarily in Malta.