PLANTS PROVOKE CULTURE CLASH

Intoxicants Such As Khat, Kava And Betel Nuts, Which Are Traditional
And Legal In Other Countries, Can Violate America's Stringent Drug
Laws And Sometimes Land Recent Immigrants In Jail.

The emergence of exotic plant-based drugs in the Bay Area is sparking
a culture clash as immigrants discover that their age-old traditions
can violate America's modern-day regulations, and even land them in
jail.

The use of substances such as khat, kava and betel nut -- legal and
often socially encouraged in immigrants' homelands -- are a growing
problem in the Bay Area not only for immigrants but also law
enforcement agents, drug counselors and regulators.

"It's overwhelming . . . Don't even get me started," said Food and
Drug Administration consumer safety officer George Butler. "There are
so many products and ingredients coming in that we do the best we can
do, but we just can't keep up."

Khat, a plant native to East Africa and the Middle East, is a
particular concern because it contains cathinone, an amphetamine that
is illegal under federal law. Last year, the U.S. Customs Service
reported a 46-percent increase in confiscation of khat: 70,000 pounds
were seized last year, compared with 48,000 in 1999.

Although both are legal, kava and betel nuts also pose problems. Kava
contains a depressant used in drinks in Tongan and Samoan rituals. Two
Pacific Islanders on the Peninsula recently have been prosecuted for
driving while impaired after consuming kava tea.

Betel nuts are tropical Asian palm tree seeds that act as a stimulant
but which may have cancer-causing properties that are made worse when
the seeds are combined with tobacco.

At least five Yemeni immigrants in the Bay Area have been prosecuted
in recent years for growing khat, which falls into the same drug
category as LSD and heroin. One of them is Abdo Algazzali, a
65-year-old father of eight, whose heart still pumps faster talking
about the day two years ago when police stormed his San Leandro back
yard, whacking down 800 khat plants.

While hunting for the shrubs, police shouted at his wife: "Where's
the cat? The cat?"

They became furious with her denials, unaware that she didn't speak
fluent English and that they were mispronouncing the object of their
feverish search. Khat is pronounced more like "ghat."

"You chew khat every day in Yemen," said Algazzali, owner of two
convenience stores in San Francisco and Oakland. "In my country,
there is no law against it . . . They treated me worse than if I had
been running a crack house."

Algazzali pleaded no contest last year to a misdemeanor drug charge
and promised to buy "Say No to Khat" ads in a Yemeni newspaper.

The culture clash is complicated by local, state and federal agencies
that sometimes make conflicting decisions.

When contacted by the Mercury News, at least two FDA agents said they
believed there was a ban on betel nuts because they are carcinogenic.
One Indo-American store owner in Fremont doesn't carry them, citing
the "ban." But two similar stores down the street carry them in
various shapes and sizes.

There is no ban. In September, however, the FDA did issue a bulletin
advising inspectors to use their discretion to decide if the nuts are
allowed into the country. FDA rules let inspectors seize products they
feel are unsanitary, not truthful in their labeling, not identified in
English, or, in the case of betel nuts, may be part of a "violative
trend." The FDA could not provide any statistics on how many betel
nut packages have been taken.

A 'Legal High'

Other foreign drugs fall into bureaucratic limbo, too.

Ma huang, a Chinese herbal upper that acts like methamphetamine, is
considered a "legal high," despite FDA warnings about its link to
heart attacks, seizures and psychotic episodes. While khat is illegal
under federal law, it's not mentioned in California drug law.

Immigrant advocates say that education, not incarceration, is the best
way to deal with newcomers struggling to decipher complicated U.S.
rules.

Alison Renteln, author of an upcoming book called "The Cultural
Defense," said harsh crackdowns can unfairly penalize immigrants. Her
research found a nationwide increase in prosecutions of khat, kava,
opium and peyote -- all products used in ritual or religious life.

"Americans are quite paranoid of people who are different and
substances that are different," she said. "Immigrants shouldn't be
thrown into prison for drinking kava or chewing khat."

Nation Of Laws

The University of Southern California professor doesn't advocate
breaking the law, but said law enforcement should take cultural
beliefs into account before meting out punishment. But police and
prosecutors say immigrants must learn to live by the rules of their
new country.

"We're a nation of laws," said Blair Thomas, an Alameda County
prosecutor in charge of drug crimes. "And the bottom line is the
uniformity of the law. If there's a rule, everyone has to abide by
it."

Some of the substances are deemed dangerous even abroad. Agencies in
Taiwan and India have warned that betel nuts are linked to mouth
cancer, and Yemeni officials recently forbade government workers from
chewing khat because they say its overuse can lead to laziness.

Bay Area law enforcement officials acknowledge that exotic drugs are
not nearly as worrisome as heroin or cocaine. But they say they want
to curb their emergence before their use becomes widespread.

Some East Palo Alto community leaders and drug counselors say they are
seeing a greater use of kava. They soon plan to launch an awareness
campaign about the harmful properties of the drink.

Recent brushes with the law have forced some immigrants to alter their
behavior -- abstaining from their cultural staples or hiding their
use.

Since Algazzali's arrest, some Yemeni community members are secretly
importing khat rather than growing it in their yards. Some Indians,
especially Hindus, have been known to sneak betel nuts past federal
investigators to ensure that they can use the caffeine-like seeds in
religious ceremonies. And some Pacific Islanders are more
surreptitious in their kava drinking since last year's prosecution of
Taufui Piutau, a San Bruno man from Tonga, who was driving after
drinking 23 cups. His trial resulted in a hung jury, and he hasn't
been retried.

While some immigrants will continue to sneak, drink and chew their
hometown concoctions, Algazzali swears he'll respect the U.S. legal
system and stay away from khat forever. What he's most worried about
is the new sitting room he's building for his guests. What will he
serve?

"That's what you do when you have friends over," he said. "You go
and sit down and chew khat. Sometimes from one in the afternoon to
midnight. I'm still waiting to see if people will come to visit me."