Swain, Spencer ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2191-0041, Lashua, Brett and Spracklen, Karl (2024) Khat-chewing, adiaphorization and morality: Rethinking ethics in the age of the synopticon. Critical Criminology.

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Abstract

In June 2014, the U.K. Government made khat (Catha edulis) a Class C drug under the U.K. Misuse of Drugs Act. Based on limited evidence, this decision went against the Government's own Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) and has divided members of the British-Somali diaspora, where khat is a popular form of recreation. The Government’s decision to ban khat highlights broader questions regarding how ethical legislation is implemented within post-industrial societies, exposing postcolonial power systems that ‘Other’ migrant groups through synoptic control. Based on qualitative interviews with members of the Somali diaspora and external agencies in Northern England, the research explores how this system fails to consider khat's complex moral position while framing users and those living within the diaspora as deviant.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	Published
DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-024-09754-8
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
School/Department:	School of Education, Language and Psychology
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/9335

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