The Infamous Saying ‘Story Ya Jaba.’ Is It True That Khat Makes You Say Things That Are Completely Away from Reality?

By Maawiya Mohammed

Recently, I sat in one of the many fleets of the Super Metro Shuttle – the most sought after matatu Sacco in Kenya- headed home from work. When we neared the General Motors corner at Mombasa Road, a little traffic caught up with us. To pass time, I decided to scroll through Twitter. Straight away, a particular tweet caught my attention. The tweet stated that water can be used to cut stone and steel. As you would normally do when your attention is sparked by a tweet, I popped up the comment section. I immediately came across a number of quoted tweets replying with "hio ni stori ya jaba" as they could not believe.

This made me wonder and thinking, “Does khat/miraa, street name ‘jaba’ make users come up with indecipherable things?” Something that cannot be perceived as reality. So I did a little research and here are the findings.
Khat/miraa is a plant that is native to the Horn of Africa and Arabian Peninsula. Its leaves contain a stimulant called cathinone which can have psychoactive effects when chewed.

Psychoactive is defined as ‘affecting the mind or behaviour.’ This means that khat causes changes in mood, awareness, thoughts, feelings and behaviour. Cathinone also increases energy, alertness and euphoria. So when a person chews the leaves of khat he/she becomes hyped. His brain is working overtime and therefore you may find the user talkative. Since a session of miraa chewing lasts hours, this action of being hyper may lead to the user talking or telling stories in large volumes than they would normally. This may lead them to lying or aggrandising a story to make it more interesting or funny. But again, people are different and are affected by drugs differently, so you may find some users quiet.

According to The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), khat can induce some level of grandiose delusions, paranoia, nightmare and hallucinations. But it is unlikely to cause a person to say things that are completely and utterly disconnected from reality. However, as I said before it is important to note that the effects of khat can vary depending on the individual, the dose and the method of intake. Some people may experience pronounced effects than others and there is always the risk of adverse reactions or side effects when using any drug.

This means that the users may exaggerate stories because of khat, but won’t say things that are completely away from reality. That does not mean that an individual who is chewing khat cannot utter incomprehensible things, they may but that depends with the individual.