“…minister defies order to ban…khat because there is ‘no evidence of harm'”

Daily Mail: “Liberal Democrat Drugs Minister Norman Baker is defying Mrs May’s order to criminalise khat, a plant chewed to give users a high and used predominantly in East African immigrant communities.

Mr Baker – who once said cannabis was ‘no more harmful than alcohol or tobacco’ – has told Mrs May he disagrees with her plan to ban the substance, and flatly refused to act on it.

His rebellion has forced Mrs May to strip him of responsibility for enforcing the ban and give it to Organised Crime Minister Karen Bradley, a Tory who holds more hardline views…He is distinctly to her Left on a number of issues, including immigration controls and ‘snooping’ powers.

Mrs May is planning to categorise khat as a class C drug, which would make its importation, possession and supply a criminal offence. She last week rejected calls for a rethink from the Home Affairs Committee, whose chair, Labour MP Keith Vaz, has spoken of chewing khat in the past.

It argued there was no compelling evidence the drug was harmful – and police would risk ‘antagonism’ when targeting communities which use it.”

Read the full article: Daily Mail – Theresa May faces revolt after rebel Lib Dem minister defies order to ban