So when the Australian government decided last year to strictly limit the import of kava from South Pacific nations, there was anger from the 100,000 expatriate islanders based in Australia.
There are claims that a ban on commercial imports of kava is fuelling a sharp rise in violence and anti-social behaviour among Australia's Pacific island communities, as young people take to drink and drugs instead. The tough restrictions on kava were imposed 12 months ago by the then government of prime minister John Howard because of concerns that it was being abused by Aborigines, who were consuming vast quantities of the herbal drug, often in conjunction with alcohol.
It was a potent cocktail that left many remote Aboriginal townships, particularly in the Northern Territory, even more blighted by dysfunction and despair than was normally the case.
In announcing the restrictions, the then health minister Tony Abbott, said: 'Kava abuse has become an increasingly serious problem in indigenous communities over recent years.'
The ban has since been maintained by the new Labor administration of Kevin Rudd. 'There are no plans to review the current regime,' a spokesman for the health department said last week. 'Changing the importation restrictions is not on the agenda.'
But Pacific island communities, including Fijians, Samoans and Tongans, say the draconian clampdown on how much kava can be brought into Australia - just 2kg per person - unfairly discriminates against them.
A regular supply of the mild narcotic - which is derived from a pepper plant, Piper methysticum - is essential for maintaining cultural traditions and community ties, they argue.
Kava is made from the plant's pounded roots, mixed with water and traditionally served in coconut shells. It numbs the mouth and lips before inducing a feeling of relaxation and drowsiness.
As the supply of kava has dwindled, young Pacific islanders are abusing drugs and alcohol and being drawn towards street gangs and crime, elders say.
'What is now happening is alcohol has become the substitute for kava,' Sione Pinomi from the Association of Tongan Arts and Culture wrote last week in a plea to the federal government.
'We have witnessed a sad increase in violence in the Pacific island community over the past months. The fear among Pacific islanders is that violence is increasing partly because of the misguided ban on commercial importation of kava.'
Allowing islanders to bring in just 2kg of kava each is not nearly enough to maintain the dozens of kava circles which have sprung up in Australian cities.
The gatherings, which happen twice a week or more, are a chance for elders to come together to discuss community developments and impart traditional customs and discipline to young men.
'The good work done with young people by fostering their traditional culture will be undone by pushing them towards alcohol,' said Mr Pinomi. 'Because of the ban, hostility is starting to show. We understand the motives for the ban. However, this has gone far too far and is affecting communities it was never intended to affect.'
The tight restriction on kava imports has seen the price per kilogram jump from A$30 (HK$224) to about A$200.
Tongan leaders suggest introducing a system whereby registered kava clubs could apply to the federal health department for a license to import kava.
But a public health academic and kava expert said relaxing the tight restrictions on imports would lead to a resumption of abuse among Aborigines and the revival of a lucrative trade in kava smuggling.
'Before the restrictions, you had guys loading up Toyota Troop Carriers with hundreds of kilograms of kava and driving from Victoria and New South Wales all the way up to the Northern Territory,' said associate professor Alan Clough of James Cook University in Queensland.
'The mark-up was huge - a kilo of kava that could be bought for A$30 in Suva [Fiji's capital] would be sold for A$350 in Arnhem Land.
'I sympathise with upstanding Fijians and Tongans and other South Sea islanders who want to bring in more kava, but repealing the restrictions would just play into the hands of unscrupulous traders. Tight controls on the supply of kava are the only way to go.'
Kava was originally introduced to Aborigines in the Northern Territory in the early 1980s by Melanesian missionaries who hoped it would wean them off their chronic dependence on alcohol.
Instead, Aborigines took to abusing both kava and alcohol, spending wages and welfare payments on both substances.
'Introducing kava was a nice idea but it didn't work,' said Professor Clough. 'The social controls on the consumption of kava that had developed over centuries in Pacific cultures were absent among Aborigines.'
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