Wales Reverses Kava Ban

Wales Reverses Kava Ban

CARDIFF, WalesThe NationalAssembly for Wales revoked its 2002 ban of kava in late November. Earlier in2003, the National Association of Health Stores (NAHS) took legal actionsagainst the Secretary of State for Health and the National Assembly for Wales (www.wales.gov.uk) regarding the ban.

NAHS had not been the only one unhappy with the kava ban. Inan April 2003 speech, the Prince of Wales, Charles, said the risk of liverdamage from kava is no worse than that associated with Valium (diazepam), andthat kava has none of the addiction problems of the conventional tranquillizer,nor the side-effects associated with Valium and other benzodiazepine-baseddrugs. Some believe the recent problems may well be due to industrialextraction techniques used in producing kava which, in increasing theconcentration of active constituents called kavalactones, have removed otherimportant components that protect the liver, he said. Prohibition couldhave the unfortunate result of stifling further research into what many agree isa potentially valuable treatment.