Khat

Khat, the red-stemmed, green-leafed plant that is chewed for its amphetamine-like properties, is grown in Kenya and Ethiopia but is very popular in Somalia, Djibouti and Yemen.

They are chewing on khat, a small serrated, bitter leaf with remarkable stimulative properties. […] One of the great things about khat[…] is that after a good chew you need to do something—walking, running, chopping wood, vigorously reciting a poem, throwing a grenade, anything that requires boldness and physical initiative.

Of course he was an amateur of quat – hashish – which delighted the cops.

‘And skinny Arab beggars who chew qat all day long to kill their appetites and get high on the weed.’

Habitually munching on narcotic leaves of khat, they are easy enough to spot, their gleaming Toyota four-wheel-drives slicing paths around beaten-up wheelbarrows and pushcarts.