CULTURE CLASH BLAMED FOR LOCAL QAT BUST

Two Men Arrested Are 'Family Men,' Not Drug Dealers, Somali-Canadians Say

Two local Somalis are caught in a cultural divide over a leafy plant
that could land them in a Canadian jail.

Chewing qat has been a centuries-old accepted practice in Somalia, as
it is in many Muslim cultures, where alcohol is forbidden.

Chewed into a bitter mass and then tucked into the cheek, qat
provides a mild euphoria that can last four hours, but still allows
the user to function.

It can also be part of an important social event, with people
gathering in a home, for example, to dine and chew qat.

Those who use it say qat is no more harmful than drinking coffee or
smoking cigarettes. In many countries, including the United Kingdom,
it is a legal stimulant.

But qat, which is from the Catha edulis shrub, is illegal to sell,
import or buy in Canada.

Edmonton police made their first major bust in late February, when
they arrested and charged the two men. A 135-kilogram shipment of
fresh leaves was intercepted by the Canada Border Services Agency.

But the Alberta Somali Community Center's Mahamad Accord says the men
are respected members of the community.

"They don't see themselves as drug dealers," Accord says.

"They are family men," says Accord's colleague, Abdi Warsame.
"Somalian people who use qat are breadwinners, workers, students."

Qat's illegality in this country means about 30 per cent of their
community are criminals, Warsame adds.

For years, seized qat was destroyed because police didn't have the
resources to investigate every infraction.

"We have known about it here in the region for a few years, but it's
been on such a small scale it was even difficult for us to find,"
Staff Sgt. Kevin Galvin says. "During the importation phase, it is
generally discovered first by federal agencies like the Canadian
Border Services Agency."

Qat's prohibition turns chewing into a luxury. In Canada, a kilogram
of qat is worth about $500. In the U.K. users pay about $66 for the
same amount.

Fresh leaves will rot within days, so qat is often dried or frozen
when it makes its secret trip to Edmonton.

The longer qat has spent out of the dry, tropical ground of Kenya or
Ethiopia, where it is mostly grown, the weaker the plant's effects.

But the quality of the qat that make it here is still good is enough
for Abdul, an Edmonton restaurant owner.

Abdul will usually sit with qat in his cheek for three hours at a
time, chewing with friends. He says qat makes 16 hours of work fly by.

To keep his mouth from drying out, Abdul drinks water, although many
who chew drink Coca-Cola to sweeten the plant's natural bitterness.
It's the soda pop of choice, given the limited selection of their
homeland: Coke or Fanta. "And Fanta is too sweet," Abdul says.

Much like coffee or cigarettes, using qat is an adult thing. Young
people here associate it with their fathers, with back home, says
Abdul. Few women chew.

Qat has its detractors.

It was declared illegal in 1996 because it poses potential harm to
public health and safety, Health Canada spokesman Paul Duchesne says.

Even Somalia faces problems because of qat, where militiamen
dependent on the plant are said to be more quick to anger, reacting
irrationally and fuelling violence.

When the drug was banned during a period of Islamist rule two years
ago, the BBC reported the calmest streets in over a decade.

"Qat has been identified as a particular substance of concern by the
World Health Organization, [which describes] its effects as
significantly toxic," Duchesne says.

"Qat is also believed to be dependence-producing."

Accord says people who abuse qat generally only pose a threat to themselves.

He doesn't chew it because he believes it's unhealthy.

But that doesn't mean he looks down on others for doing so. For
Accord, it's a habit rooted in tradition.

"I'm not saying that it's a good thing," says Warsame. "Better not to
use it." But he is adamant, as are other Somalis, that qat is not a drug.

Accord thinks Canada could learn from Australia. There it is legal to
bring in up to five kilograms a month for personal use if both a
licence and permit to import are obtained. Here, people who import
qat can face a year in prison.

Canadian gang expert Michael Chettleburgh says qat is also in
Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, anywhere with
significant East African and Middle Eastern communities.

To solve organized crime's involvement in the qat trade, the drug
should be legalized, Chettleburgh says.

"We would take some of the oxygen supply away from gangs."

He has long made the same argument about marijuana.

"These are not highly addictive drugs," Chettleburgh says. "Alcohol
and cigarettes are much more harmful and we deem them socially acceptable."

Police question whether qat is as harmless as some people make out.

It is becoming much easier to find on Edmonton streets as criminal
networks import and sell it in greater volumes.

"The proceeds of the sale of qat then are used to purchase cocaine
and firearms so that those same criminal networks can begin to make
more money and begin to participate in the cocaine trade, on their
own or through some of our more traditional criminal networks," says
Staff Sgt. Kevin Galvin, who heads the gang unit.

The same resources police have maxed out fighting cocaine, meth and
marijuana in Edmonton are now being extended to fight qat, as crime
escalates within the local East African community.

"There's an influx of Eastern Canadian crime groups coming here," Galvin says.

"Many of them are of Central and East African descent. They now are
bringing more of the drug in to traffic to their community. They have
a monopoly of consumers."

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FACTS TO CHEW ON

Qat is also known as khat, kat and gat.

Short-term effects: In lower doses, qat causes euphoria and elation,
increased energy and alertness, loss of appetite and insomnia,
increased heart rate and blood pressure, respiration and body
temperature, decreased sexual drive, increased aggression and
fantasies of personal supremacy. In higher doses, effects include
constipation, paranoia, psychotic episodes, aggressive behaviour, as
well as risk of brain hemorrhage, heart attack and pulmonary edema.

Tolerance and dependence: Qat is believed to cause at least
psychological dependence and prolonged use may result in withdrawal
symptoms such as lethargy, depression, nightmares and tremors.

Source - www.hc-sc.gc.ca