Posted on 08/11/2002 8:47:26 AM PDT by snippy_about_it
|
|
|
|
At least one night a week, the stories go, a husband disappears, taking household money with him.
He returns the next morning a nervous wreck -- sleepy, tired and broke -- often leaving his family scrambling to pay that week's bills.
The men aren't gamblers, but users of khat, a stimulant common in parts of Africa and the Middle East that is emerging in Columbus and nationwide.
The leafy substance is an illegal drug that produces a cocainelike euphoria, the U.S. government says.
Experts say it is as dangerous as amphetamine and can be used as an anti-depressant or an appetite suppressant.
Although most users chew khat, it also can be pounded into a paste or used in a tea. The effects seem to depend on the quantity chewed, ranging from feelings of bliss, clear-headedness and euphoria to depression, sleepiness and aggression. Some people report feeling nothing at all.
Those in the Somali community, where its use is almost contained, say khat is a long-established part of their culture, predating even coffee, with a buzz no more potent than a shot of espresso.
The clash between custom and law is being played out in cities nationwide as police from Los Angeles to Lewiston, Maine, crack down on khat trafficking, determined to keep it out of the mainstream.
"We've been aware of this for some time. . . . Previously, it was in the background, not as readily available,'' said Sgt. Ben Cassuccio of the Columbus Police narcotics bureau.
"We are finding they are treating it like any illegal substance. They find there's money in it. Our fear is that they will introduce it into the general population.''
Those who work with the community say khat's most confounding side effect is how it impacts the family.
"We know that khat dysfunctions our community,'' said Maryan Warsame, president of the Somali Women's Association. "It affects women and children the most. They don't see the money the man works for.
"The men go out and chew it away in khat. They're off chewing and away for days. It makes them lazy. It makes them nervous.''
Marian Ghedi, who works with Somali families through Jewish Family Services, said khat use doesn't always produce bad results.
"It's more favored than alcohol,'' Ghedi said.
"Of course, when you're out all night, it does have an effect. The man comes back in the morning, and he's nervous; he needs to sleep. He may not go to work or cannot help with the children. He cannot pray. And it's expensive.''
A bundle of khat, enough for one person to consume for one session, can cost between $30 and $50.
The drug is sold by word of mouth, in ethnic shops and sometimes through a trafficking network that can include taxi drivers. It also is distributed at social gatherings, such as weddings, as an alternative to alcohol.
This year in Columbus, where the Somali population is approaching 20,000, police have arrested 10 people on khat-related charges.
In the United States, freshly picked khat contains cathinone, a Schedule I drug carrying penalties similar to those for possessing heroin and cocaine.
One Somali man visiting Columbus from Atlanta last year became the first person in Ohio to be sentenced on charges related to possessing the drug.
Mahad H. Samatar is serving 10 years at the Southeastern Correctional Institution in Lancaster.
"When I hear drug, I think of a substance that changes human behavior or a medicine that affects the human brain,'' said Abdulla Jama, vice president of the Somali Community Association.
"Khat does none of that. You don't lose control. It's not like drinking or smoking, not like hard drugs at all.''
Jama, who tried khat many years ago when he lived in Somalia, compared it to drinking two or three cups of coffee: "It's more of a time-waster; you chew for up to six hours.''
Khat is available on every street corner in Somalia, said Jama, who teaches English as a second language in the Columbus school district.
"People may not realize the consequences, that they could go to jail for it. That makes the number of arrests troubling,'' he said.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration links increased trafficking, distribution and use of khat in the United States to a rise in the number of immigrants from Africa and the Middle East.
Khat is legal in most countries, including Canada and parts of Europe, although Britain is under pressure to criminalize it because suicides among users are rising.
Somalis say it was outlawed in their homeland in the late 1970s because of the financial drain on the population and the low productivity it created. But civil war left no government to enforce the law.
Last year, the U.S. government seized 82,000 pounds of khat, more than double the amount confiscated in 1996. Much of that was heading to Columbus, authorities said.
Police in Columbus and elsewhere have been working with FedEx and other freight carriers to identify shipments of khat. Last month, Columbus police confiscated 260 pounds of khat, about average for a month, Cassuccio said.
"We have the second-largest concentration of Somalis outside Somalia,'' he said. "Our fear is as the size of the community grows, the trafficking is also going to increase.''
Carol Wright, Samatar's attorney, calls this a "very new area'' for police to attempt to regulate.''
Ohio law does not specifically prohibit khat, only the active ingredients in it, she points out.
Her client was arrested in February 2001 while trying pick up a package of khat from a FedEx office in Columbus. He planned to distribute the product at a wedding.
"My concern is that Somalis have no idea of the penalties they face,'' Wright said. "They have no idea that khat contains this Schedule I prohibited substance.''
But in resettlement documents he received from the Immigration and Naturalization Service before he came to the United States four years ago, Mussa Farah remembers reading that khat was illegal here.
Some people, he conceded, might have missed the reference.
Somali community leaders say they do not condone the use of the drug. It's a form of socializing among Somalis, most of whom are Muslim and don't drink alcohol.
"Ninety percent of people who chew khat have never had a beer,'' Furah said.
Furthermore, he said, "Somalis have a closed society. This (khat) is for their own market. Other communities don't have access to it.
Besides, he said, "The pleasure others are looking for, they won't find in khat.''
|
|
 |
|
|
Most live in goverment housing (HUD), our tax dollars pay the way. I think the U.S. is too spread out and too widely populated for taxpayers to take a stand and say NO MORE to the misuse and unauthorized use of our hard earned money. If we were smaller perhaps we could make protests have more impact. Just voting for a particular candidate isn't working.
Mind you, the drugs here don't concern me as much as the influx of immigrants to our country which is already overtaxed.
Yeah, we too have those in the American community that say the same things about pot.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.