MUSLIMS' SOCIAL DRUG BRINGING U.S. ARRESTS

At major airports across the United States, customs agents are confiscating
greater amounts of a drug called khat - a shrub leaf that men chew for
energy in Africa and Arabia that has been illegal here since 1993. The
crackdown upsets immigrants from places such as Somalia, Yemen and
Ethiopia, where khat is accepted in much the same way as drinking a beer is
in America.

"Cultural communities have different things they chew, and then America
becomes the melting pot. People are bringing it in," said Mark Milne, a
U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman.

Khat already has become the No. 1 seized drug at several U.S. airports.

At Denver International Airport, for example, agents have seized 221 pounds
this year, up from 148 pounds of khat in 2002. By comparison, only 10.7
pounds of marijuana and half a pound of heroin have been confiscated so far
in 2004.

At New York's Kennedy Airport, khat is seized in far greater volumes. More
than 82,000 pounds have been collected this year, up from 46,269 in 2002.
Khat tops the drugs seized at Los Angeles International Airport and
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

White House drug officials support the crackdown on khat, which U.S.
authorities put on par with heroin.

"What we are doing is to employ a balanced strategy to prevent young people
from using all drugs, whether it's khat or marijuana or cocaine," said
Rafael Lemaitre, spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Chewing khat is an ancient tradition in Muslim cultures. Although khat is
illegal in the United States, the United Nations' list of internationally
controlled drugs does not include khat, which is becoming so popular in
Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and elsewhere that former coffee farmers
grow it.

Now immigrants in the U.S. question why khat is such a concern.

This year in south suburban Denver, Somalian refugee Abdullahi Hussen, 41,
was sitting with friends in his apartment living room, listening to
Somalian music, when Arapahoe County sheriff's deputies arrived at his
door. Tipped by a Somalian neighbor, authorities entered Hussen's apartment
and confiscated khat.

Hussen has been jailed for nearly four months and faces possible deportation.

"I don't even know drugs, never use," Hussen said in broken English.
"(Khat) is a social thing. ... Drink beer, you can't work. Khat, you don't
lose anything. You take time with friends, talking, same as you go to
Starbucks with people.

"... I'm in jail for khat. I can't believe it."

About 2,500 Somalians and more than 9,000 Ethiopians live in the Denver
area. Leaders in immigrant communities urge newcomers to obey U.S. laws,
even if it contradicts the customs of their homeland.

"Here in the United States, Somali people must abide by the law," said
Somali elder Mohamad Mohamad, 62.

But U.S. law clashes with tradition, and the searches for khat strike some
immigrants as unfair.

In the apartment block where jailed refugee Hussen lived, two Arapahoe
County sheriff's deputies knocked on Abdi Ali's apartment door one night
about six months ago, said Ali, 34. They identified themselves "and just
got in," Ali said.

"They checked my closet," he said. "I told them I don't use drugs. I don't
sell drugs. But they just kept checking, and I didn't say anything. I was
scared they'd take me to jail. You don't feel free."

Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said his officers must enforce
drug laws but that they don't break the law to do it.

"We don't necessarily need a warrant if somebody provides consent,"
Robinson said. "Deputies I work with are always cognizant of the
search-and-seizure laws, and they comply with those laws."

Some immigrants question why authorities focus on khat. When U.S. troops
intervened in Somalia in 1991, they faced unruly gunmen who often chewed
khat. Today, Somalia, Yemen and other khat-growing countries also are
hotbeds for anti- U.S. sentiment.

"I'm against (chewing khat), but it isn't what they make it out to be,"
said Somalian cabdriver Abdi Ahmed, 28. "This may have something to do with
Somalia and 9/11 and all that."

Sitting with friends at a Somalian hangout sipping coffee, Abdul Hasan, 34,
said police have stopped cabdrivers from Somalia and Ethiopia.

"They say, 'You aren't doing anything wrong, but I just want to check. Open
your mouth,"' Hasan said. "People feel like they cannot do what they want.
Look at drinking. A lot of American people drink alcohol. (Muslims) cannot
drink alcohol."

Denver police never stop vehicles without probable cause or reasonable
suspicion, said Sgt. John Spezze of Denver's criminal investigations
division. Cultural customs can complicate enforcement, he added.

"If it's legal in the country they come from, it presents a bit of a
problem for us," he said.

In the case of Hussen, deputy state public defender Ted Stavish said he
plans to challenge the legality of the search.

"In his culture, khat is not illegal. It's a recreational habit akin to
chewing tobacco," Stavish said. "The evidence that he was dealing is based
on unsubstantiated rumor."

Hussen said he fled Somalia when there was "fighting everywhere." He has
eight children in Somalia, he said, and an American wife.

Somalia has lacked a central government for 13 years as rival factions
battle for territory. "They kill people still," Hussen said.

But after nearly four months in jail, he said, he was weighing deportation
as possible welcome relief.

"They say freedom in America," he said. "I don't have freedom. ... What can
I do?"