A CULTURALLY INSENSITIVE DRUG CASE?

A plant chewed for millennia as a stimulant by East Africans and Arabs
brought a rare drug conviction Tuesday night in Madison.

The plant is khat, an evergreen shrub grown in East Africa and the
Arabian peninsula and prized for its stimulating properties.

The new felon is Liban Moalin, 37, a Canadian citizen who was born in
Ethiopia, where people routinely chew the plant's leaves and stems. It
took a jury only about a half-hour to find the former Fitchburg man,
who now lives in St. Paul, Minn., guilty of possession of a controlled
substance with intent to deliver.

Khat prosecutions represent a clash of cultures, said Omar Jamal,
executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul.

About 30,000 Somalis live in the Twin Cities, Jamal said, and khat is
used socially among Somalis and other East Africans - generally those
who were born in Africa instead of the U.S. - because it provides a
stimulating, energizing effect.

"The question of the Somalis on the street is, 'What's going on
here?'." Jamal said. ".'Why are they making a big deal out of it?'."

It was a sentiment that was echoed Tuesday by one of Moalin's
attorneys, Sidney Moore, an Atlanta attorney who specializes in khat
cases.

"Every culture has their stimulant," Moore said. "This is their
stimulant. There's been no evidence that this has any adverse effect
on anybody."

The theory among some Somalis in the Twin Cities, many of whom are
Muslims, Jamal said, is that khat prosecutions provide "an excuse to
get us, because we're all terrorists." Moalin was arrested in January
after he took delivery of a shipment of the plants from a friend in
Italy. But the shipment had been intercepted by U.S. Customs agents,
then was delivered to Moalin by a Madison police detective posing as a
Federal Express employee. Moalin later told police the plants were to
be passed to another friend in Minneapolis, where police are more
watchful for khat.

In all, the boxes delivered to Moalin by Detective Mary Copeland
contained 156 banana-leaf-wrapped bundles of khat, each containing at
least 40 stems.

Moalin faces up to three years in prison and three years of extended
supervision when he is sentenced. As a Canadian citizen, he could also
be deported.

"Mr. Moalin is obviously very disappointed with the verdict," said
attorney Jeffrey Nichols, who also represented Moalin. Though khat
prosecutions are rare here, Nichols said he was not trying to set any
precedent with the case, just get a favorable verdict for his client.

The jury rejected claims by Moalin's attorneys that he did not know
khat was an illegal drug, because it is the active ingredient in khat
- - cathinone, and not the plant itself - that is listed as a controlled
substance in state law.

Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Farmer countered that marijuana
itself is not mentioned in statutes, either - only its active
ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol is listed - but everyone still knows
it's illegal to use or possess. Also, Farmer said, Moalin admitted to
police that he knew the plant was illegal in the U.S. and Wisconsin.
Increasingly, police are cracking down on khat in cities where there
are concentrations of East African immigrants. Last summer, 44 people,
including 13 from Minnesota, were indicted as part of the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration's Operation Somalia Express, which it
touted as the largest khat bust in U.S. history.

Authorities said those involved imported more than 25 tons of khat
worth more than $10 million.

But Wisconsin has seen only a fraction of that, and khat-related
prosecutions in Wisconsin are rare.

Madison Police Lt. Sandy Theune, who leads the Dane County Narcotics
and Gangs Task Force, said Wednesday that khat is rare here because
few East Africans live here. But a few packages in addition to those
in the Moalin case have been intercepted, she said.

Among the steps taken by law enforcement in the case was to freeze the
khat before and after the delivery to Moalin was made. Khat's active
ingredient, cathinone, quickly degrades into another compound called
cathine and loses its effect on humans.

The change can start to occur within 48 hours of the plant being cut
in Africa.

The khat in this case was kept frozen at the state Crime Laboratory
until forensic scientist Martin Koch tested it in April to see whether
it contained cathinone. Koch said his tests confirmed it did, though
Moore challenged Koch's testing methods and conclusions on cross
examination.