Kava: the drug ruining the Pacific
The drug has been introduced to Australia – as if Australia did not already have enough problems from alcohol and other drugs.
(Piper methysticum is known as kava or yaqona.)
Kava: psychotic effect clouds judgement
- People ignore kava’s horrid taste, and unfortunately drink it for the sake of its psychotic effect. The drug reduces inhibitions and clouds judgement.
- It is sedative, relaxes the muscles, slurs speech, and causes the mouth and throat to become numb. The kava-drinker becomes dizzy or unable to stand up.
- Kava gets many girls into a state of mind where they are accepting kava in return for indecent behaviour.
Kava: liver damage
It is harmful to the liver. The liver damage has symptoms of severe scaly skin – “crocodile skin”.
A previously healthy woman required a liver transplant – even after 8 weeks of kava usage in 2001.
“Hepatic Toxicity Possibly Associated with Kava-Containing Products — United States, Germany, and Switzerland, 1999–2002″, 29 Nov. 2002, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
Kava & church hypocrisy – rebuke by Chief Rokodewala, Fiji
“How can they drink kava within the church compounds? They are serving a holy god and yet they are practising a dirty habit. It’s a shame that many of the youths in prison belong to the Methodist church. And who are they kidding declaring a tabu or abstaining from drinking kava for three months or a year?”
Theresa Ralogaivau, 2 Aug. 2008, Fiji Times, ‘Chief blames church for ills’.
Kava makes them weak, and they’re not prepared to work – Rev. Gondarra, Arnhem Land
“The Reverend Dr Djiniyini Gondarra is opposed to kava. He is a prominent elder, a former Uniting Church minister and the chairman of the Arnhem Land Progress Association, which refuses to sell kava through its community stores. ‘It makes them weak, and they’re not prepared to work,’ he says.”
Gondarra’s views on welfare dependency mirror Queenslander Noel Pearson’s, his fellow Aboriginal leader. Pearson calls it sit-down money, a term also used in Arnhem Land. “I don’t believe kava is a solution for Aboriginal people, like alcohol and other drugs,” Gondarra says. “Kava is a silent killer.”
16 Sep. 2003, Sydney Morning Herald, ‘Sit-down drink’.
I preach a lot against Kava – Superintendent Vulaono, New Methodist Church, Fiji
New Methodist Church general superintendent Senior Pastor Atu Vulaono said leaders should not fool themselves.
“I preach a lot against kava drinking.”
“Many people or leaders talk about drunkenness, young people going to clubs and doing drugs when they are getting drunk themselves from kava.
Kava is like a grandfather to all these things.
They should not fool themselves.”
22 Aug. 2008, Fiji Times, ‘New Methodist warns on kava’.
Missionaries against Kava – Christians without hypocrisy
“It is nonalcoholic but can be consciousness-altering. Christian missionaries virtually eliminated the drink from the islands; today, the word ‘kava’ is used for any alcoholic beverage.”
Traditional Vice
Genuine Christianity says Christ is first – not any nation’s customs.
Let every man, woman, and child be absolutely rid of the vice that is kava!
Note: the vice was traditionally limited to men who were chiefs – certainly not general use in church services! A kavaholic wants you to just try it so he can say, “See! You have it, so can I.” The kava drinkers become increasingly complacent and start expecting their wives to single-handedly raise the children and also to earn an income. Meanwhile the men accomplish nothing. But if you object, they say, “See! You have it, so can I.” Likewise, how can you help alcoholics when you still dabble a bit yourself?