Before reading this article, we sincerely invite you to click "Follow", which is convenient for you to discuss and share, and brings you a different sense of participation, thank you for your support.
This photograph was taken on the streets of Yemen showing a man whose gills were visibly deformed due to excessive chewing on plants.
Such examples abound in Yemen, but strangely enough, people here have long been accustomed to it, and "eating grass" has become the "spiritual pillar" of seventy percent of Yemenis.
This plant that looks like fresh amaranth is called chat, also known as khat or Ethiopian tea. Don't look at the word "tea" in the name, in fact, it is a drug that can be addictive and harmful to the human body.
In 2014, the mainland first defined it as a drug and reported it in anti-drug programs. Since 2013, this plant, which is abundant in the Arabian Peninsula and eastern Africa, has flowed into the mainland through various channels.
Relying on its "harmless appearance to humans and animals" and convenient smoking conditions, Chatgrass has put forward new requirements for the mainland's anti-drug work.
So don't the local people in Yemen know that they are chewing drugs? The answer is yes, but you can't help yourself.
It can be said that today's Yemen has fallen from a rich place to a country with constant wars and withered people's livelihood, and the widespread spread of chatter grass has an unshirkable responsibility.
What changes has Yemen undergone in the past compared to Yemen now? In what ways has Chatgrass influenced the development and progress of the entire country?
Why the mainland is serious about drug control
As a country that regards drugs as a "beast of floods", the mainland's attitude towards drugs has always been serious and clear-cut.
As early as the Wei and Jin dynasties, smoking the "five-stone scatter" that could make people want to die was only the privilege of the aristocracy. To show their class, some people lined up to join in.
But only the participation of a small number of people, after all, it will not affect the whole country. So Chinese at that time did not deeply realize what a terrible thing drugs are.
Until the end of the Qing Dynasty, the British opened the door to China with cannons, and used the opium trade to earn a large amount of silver from China, destroying the national economy while causing great harm to the health of mainland citizens.
Humen sells cigarettes
Even compared to the harm of the opium epidemic, economic losses no longer seem to be the most important. In order to eliminate drugs, Qing Dynasty official Lin Zexu publicly destroyed opium in Humen, also known as "Humen selling tobacco".
Of course, because of the weakness of the state, this behavior angered the black-hearted foreign capital, and war broke out.
But it is precisely the course of events that reveals a bloody truth: the best weapon for destroying a country may not be ship cannons, but drugs.
As long as most of the people in a country can fall into drug addiction, then even if the country with abundant resources and hardworking people will surely come to an end.
It is precisely because of such a lesson that the mainland's anti-narcotics policy has not been relaxed since the founding of New China. Looking at countries around the world, although the drug problem in many countries is not prominent, such a strict policy as the mainland is also unique.
Perhaps many countries have not experienced such a humiliating past as China, which is why they may not feel how serious the damage of drugs to a country's "national foundation" is.
Why is Chatter so popular
The Republic of Yemen is located on the Arabian Peninsula, bordering Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East. Due to its geographical location near the sea and its abundant oil and other resources, Yemen was once a paradise.
Although the land area is not large, because the population is only 20 million, and the coastline is adjacent to the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and other maritime routes, it can be said that the people can live a life that exceeds most countries without too much effort.
In addition to its geographical advantages, Yemen is also the birthplace of an ancient civilization. As early as 3,000 years ago, the ancient civilization of the Arabian Peninsula sprouted here.
As a civilization of the same period as "ancient Egypt" and "ancient Babylon", it can still be preserved today, which is a rare historical heritage in itself.
In 1918, Yemen established the Mutawakyliya Empire, and 16 years later the British invaded and the country was divided into northern and southern factions. Since then, the north and south of Yemen have overthrown feudal dynasties and broken away from colonial rule, and in 1990 the Republic of Yemen was established, and Yemen once again existed as a full state after more than half a century of division.
Yemen's national economy is the backbone of its national economy, which relies mainly on energy exports such as oil and gas, as well as textiles, chemicals and agricultural products.
For coffee lovers, locally produced "mocha" coffee beans are an excellent ingredient. In terms of resources and agricultural products with Yemeni characteristics, the country has a lot to offer.
But reality is reality, and Yemen, which is rich in resources, is not doing well, so why?
Although the country was first united, Yemenis also had hopes for the country's future. However, its sensitive location makes Yemen bound to be a region that cannot develop peacefully.
The poor political environment in the country has also created great obstacles to concentrating all efforts on economic and technological development. In the chaos that is not uncommon, the people also began to slowly lose confidence in the rich and strong, and turned to peace of mind to "enjoy life".
Enjoying life sounds very enviable, and the countries that can usually talk about enjoying life are all high-welfare societies in developed countries in Europe and the United States. The people of Yemen may be more aptly described as "lying flat" than they are.
As a country that relies on energy exports as its main means of trade, its citizens seem to have little need to work hard except lying down and counting money.
But is that really the case? Yemen's GDP in 2021 was less than $27 billion, less than $500 per capita, and its growth rate was only about one percent.
Yemen has become one of the poorest countries in the world in the ranking of national wealth, and what is even more frightening is that with the attitude of its citizens lying down, Yemen's future looks bleak.
Life is not rushing, the domestic political situation is bad, and the whole country cannot calm down and develop steadily. To combat this sense of insecurity, the Yemeni people have chosen to flee.
The best way to escape reality is nothing more than alcohol and drugs, which is the main reason why Chat grass is so popular in Yemen.
In ancient Egypt, when sacrifices, both spectators and priests themselves would take psychedelic drugs such as mandala, and many plants containing stimulants were gradually excavated for their special functions.
Of these plants, which have been used for thousands of years, none are as sought after as Chatgrass to this day.
Not only on the continent but also in the world, the cat grass is a plant defined as a drug, and in many countries it is illegal to grow and sell it if it is grown and used privately.
Strangely, in this impoverished country of Yemen, chatter grass is not classified as a contraband. That is to say, the intake of chatter grass here is not considered a drug, and growing this plant is a big business that can make money.
Of course, there are also Yemenis who are aware of this, but if they want to curb this evil trend, they must first take a place in the government.
But it wasn't until the election was held that behind the layers of resistance they were subjected to, there seemed to be a big, invisible hand manipulating everything. As a result, the leaders of the government's ruling party have never talked about the issue of chatcao, and Yemen's "anti-narcotics" has never succeeded.
Since it is a legal industry, more and more people are naturally engaged in related industries.
If exporting energy is the core of Yemen's foreign exchange, then domestic cultivation and sale of chatter grass is an important business that dominates the domestic demand market.
Let's take a look at the day of an ordinary person in Yemen, perhaps to see how much the country has fallen into drugs.
Yemen's predicament
In an ordinary Yemeni household, men usually leave early in the morning to work, while wives go to the market to prepare the day's refreshing coffee.
Yes, Yemenis love coffee so much that they can't drink coffee even if they don't eat. Fortunately, coffee is produced locally, so the price is not unaffordable.
So in the morning, one can see the tightly wrapped Arab women all over the streets, and the children running and playing in the streets.
When men come to work, they usually take out the prepared chatter grass and start chewing it while working.
Stuffing chatter grass into one's mouth anytime and anywhere in Yemen is already a local way of life. Don't worry about getting your boss or colleagues questioning you, because that's what everyone used to do.
In the inefficient work interval, and even in many units will be specially reserved for everyone to rest, the so-called "rest" is that people gather in a room to enjoy "chatte grass" together.
With coffee and chatter, the men made it past work hours, usually returning home to enjoy their first meal of the day.
This is the life of the majority of Yemenis, and it is the best illustration of the hunger of more than seven of Yemenis.
Imagination alone shows how absurd it is to live on stimulants rather than food. However, if this way of life is questioned, it will lead to the resentment of Yemenis.
Most Yemenis speak of "chat" with praise. They call it: "It makes people feel relaxed, improves people's thinking speed and productivity, and has an immediate effect on fatigue." ”
Completely ignoring the fact that their eyes are deeply sunken and their faces are pale, although from the outside, they are no different from addicts.
In many wealthy homes in Yemen, there are even special "enjoyment rooms". Such a house is usually lavishly decorated and an indispensable part of a wealthy man's flaunting wealth.
Moreover, the maintenance of local social interaction also depends on this facility, and it is a supreme honor to be invited by others to "graze" together at home.
Of course, if the status is not equal, then to go to the "grass" banquet in the rich man's house, you may need to bring your own "spiritual food".
Where there is demand, there is supply, and chatter grass can be found everywhere in Yemen. Although the price is relatively cheap, about 200 yuan can buy a bundle, but for families with low income or even poor meals, it is still a big expense.
If a family only has to choose between food and grass, Yemenis will basically choose to buy chatat grass without hesitation. This is the root cause of the tragic situation of the skinny men, women and children on Yemen's streets.
Of course, there are a few ordinary people, who still need food. But the horror is ordinary crops, which in Yemen cost far more than drugs.
The reason is that due to the wide audience of drugs and the quick arrival of money, farmers choose to turn to the cultivation of chatter grass in order to make a profit as soon as possible. The soaring price of food has promoted the promotion of Chatgrass, and many anti-intellectual "Chatgrass" can relieve hunger, and there are more audiences.
Lack of food is tricky for the survival of Yemeni nationals, but it is not the deadliest problem.
Yemen's geographical location determines that it is a country with a great lack of fresh water, and most of the national water needs to be solved by groundwater.
In the Arabian Peninsula and Africa, many water sources require drilling equipment to drill wells, and the cost is incalculable. The common saying that "water is more expensive than oil" is not an exaggeration.
Given the country's water shortage, it stands to reason that Yemenis should distribute water to those in need. On the contrary, their precious fresh water is not used in daily life and production, but in "agriculture" – watering immature chatte grass.
The plant is a water-loving plant that requires a lot of fresh water from sowing to harvesting. In order to sell at a good price, the already small amount of fresh water was concentrated to grow drugs, and people could only endure hunger and thirst, and use money to buy drugs to relieve hunger and thirst.
In addition, due to its own particularity, Chatgrass will cause damage to trace elements in the soil when planted, and the originally fertile land will gradually become sandy into poor soil.
Desertified land cannot hold water, more water is needed for irrigation, and it will no longer be able to grow other crops in the future. It can be said that once the chatte grass is planted, all retreats are cut off. This is the endless cycle in Yemen itself.
These historical reasons have led to Yemen's inability to form a strong self-protection capability in the face of war.
When the conflict broke out in Yemen in 2015, the mainland navy warship formation set out from China and escorted nearly 1,000 Chinese and other residents to Yemen within nine days, which is known as the "Yemeni evacuation".
Regarding the crisis of this situation and the danger faced in the evacuation of overseas Chinese, many film and television works such as "Operation Red Sea" have been mentioned. It is impressive that Yemenis, who are about to face war, can only watch Chinese leave with envy when they see that Chinese citizens can leave in their own country.
And with the beginning of the war, the hunger index of the Yemeni people skyrocketed, and in 2021 more than 20 million people were in need of help, mostly women and children. Yemen's economy has shrunk by half, and the youngest recruitment age in the country's factions is 11-year-old boys and as low as 14 years old.
Now, with the end of the dialogue between the Saudi and Iranian delegations in Beijing, the war between the two countries may usher in a détente, and the Yemen conflict that began in 2015 is expected to achieve long-lost peace with the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
At the same time, another challenge facing the Yemeni people is the frequent flooding in the country. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 603,000 refugees in Yemen will face the threat of flooding.
As a responsible national government, we must put the health of our citizens first. Because only the people are the fundamental driving force of a country's development, the loss of control in this regard gives up hope for the country's future.
It is precisely because of this that we have today's peace and development, all this is not taken for granted, but countless anti-narcotics officers have bought with their lives, let us pay tribute to the unsung heroes who dedicated their youth and lives to anti-narcotics work!
It is also hoped that the Yemeni people can regain peace from the war.
Due to the rules of the platform, you will only be recognized as a fan if you have more interaction with me. If you like my article, you can click "Follow", and you can receive the article push as soon as you become an iron fan.
What do readers think about this? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss.