TIME IS ON SIDE OF BOTH SMUGGLER AND THE LAW IN WAR ON LEAFY STIMULANT

For centuries, it has been harvested from flowering evergreen shrubs that
grow in the mountains of East Africa and the Arabian peninsula and used in
traditional cultures as a social pick-me-up, much like Westerners enjoy
coffee.

But khat, also known as qat, African salad, Bushman's tea or by 40 other
street names, can do more than provide a caffeine-like jolt: It can produce
a 24-hour high as potent as cocaine, and authorities say its use is growing
in popularity in the United States,

Because it is potent only when fresh, it also has become the subject of a
global game of beat-the-clock both for the smugglers who profit from it and
for law enforcement officials who try to intercept it.

"There's a real rush to get it through us and onto the streets," said Thomas
Manifase, assistant special agent in charge of the U.S. Customs Service in
New Jersey.

Government studies say khat - whose active ingredient is cathinone, a
stimulant classified in the same category as cocaine maintains its peak
potency for only the first 72 hours after harvesting. Then it begins to
deteriorate into a weaker substance known as cathine, the legal equivalent
of phenobarbitol, a sedative used for seizure control. And although
officials say it can be frozen, users prefer the fresh form of the product.

Martin Ficke, the agent in charge of Customs operations for the state, said
as a result, it is smuggled in exclusively by airplane passengers or by air
freight. "It's not the kind of thing you can throw in a sea container that
takes two weeks to get there, by that time you can just throw it in the
garbage," Ficke said. As a result, authorities say, the drug is commonly
routed from source countries through European cities, where couriers are
recruited out of pubs and other nightspots with a promise of a $2,000
payment for delivery of luggage filled with the fresh cut plants.

Although the leaves of the khat plant are commonly chewed in locations where
it is grown, the drug is most often prepared for shipment in bouquet size
bundles of stems, then wrapped in banana leaves and tied. These bundles are
sprayed with water to keep them moist and packed into suitcases.

Once on the street, they are sold in $100 bunches or in wholesale loads of
$500 a kilo.

And the loads have been pouring into the country in record amounts.

"It's been an explosion of this stuff," said Manifase, who said about 21
tons have been seized by Customs since the start of the current fiscal year,
which began Oct. 1.

In New Jersey, the second largest port of entry for the drug next to New
York's JFK airport, Customs has seized almost 5 tons at Newark International
Airport since October, dwarfing last year's entire seizure record of 3,900
pounds.

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, abuse of khat can
approximate the effect of alcohol intoxication, producing manic behavior,
paranoid delusion and hallucinations, as well as damage to the nervous and
respiratory systems.

Anthony Senneca, special agent in charge of the DEA for New Jersey, said
there has been an increase in khat importation on a national level, but
widespread use appears "limited to an ethnic-cultural enclave" consisting
primarily of immigrant communities from Arab, East African. and Middle
Eastern countries.

"If you ask the average American what khat is," Senneca said, "they won't
have a clue."

At the same time other officials said, khat use is gaining in popularity
across ethnic and cultural divides.

"It is starting to be introduced on college campuses and is growing in
popularity," said Ficke.

"It's the poor man's Ecstasy," said Manifase, referring to the popular "club
drug" that authorities say is reaching epidemic proportions among youthful
users in America

Officials say there has been a steady stream of travelers trying to sneak
their cargo of khat past the U.S. borders, and cited the case of a young
woman who arrived in Newark last week aboard a SwissAir flight, toting two
black High-impact plastic suitcases. The 27 year old Swiss national was
obviously nervous and caught the attention of U.S. Customs inspectors, who
asked her to step out of line for questioning.

"She tripped right away," said Manifase. "First, she claimed they were her
bags, and then told the inspectors they were her father's."

One look inside and the reason for her anxiety became obvious: The bags were
stuffed to overflowing with bundles of khat stems.

One of the largest seizures came last month, when Customs inspectors grabbed
nearly 500 pounds of the plant in two shipments labeled as picture frames
and hydraulic machine parts after they arrived in Newark. An official
Customs report said it is believed the people responsible for those
shipments had already brought some 5,000 pounds of the plants into the area.

In most instances, such as the case of the woman intercepted last week at
Newark Airport, the drugs are simply confiscated and the couriers held for
deportation. Air freight shipments are merely seized and destroyed.

Until recently, authorities said they have been forgoing prosecutions, and
officials explained that khat presents some unusual problems for
prosecutors, particularly the short shelf life of the drug.

"The problem," said Ficke, "comes when you make an arrest." He noted that
authorities are left with the question of the level of potency in the
evidence.

At its most potent, khat is classified as a Schedule 1 controlled substance,
on a par with heroin and cocaine. When it deteriorates, however, it becomes
a Schedule 4 substance, which carries no mandatory prison penalties. In
addition, because of the bulk of the product, the amount carried by a
single person is often under the level needed to trigger a federal case.

As a result, Ficke said the shipments are usually just seized and shipped to
government incinerators in Long Island for destruction, while the couriers
are sent back where they came from. "Eighty percent of our trips (to the
incinerators) are to get rid of this stuff," Ficke said.

About The Drug

What is khat? It is a flowering evergreen shrub native to East Africa and
the Arabian peninsula. It is also known as qat, Bushman's tea, African salad
and by some 40 other street names. In 1993, it was formally classified as a
Schedule 1 controlled substance, regulated as a narcotic such as cocaine and
heroin.

How is it used? The stems and leaves of the plant are ingested by chewing
them or brewing them into a tea.

What happens? If the plant is fresh, within 48-72 hours of harvesting, it
contains cathinone, a narcotic stimulant that produces a cocaine-like high
that can last up to 24 hours. It produces euphoria and heightened energy. If
the leaves are older than 72 hours, the substance deteriorates into cathine,
a less potent sedative with a low potential for abuse.

Where is its use most prevalent? For centuries it has been a staple of many
East African, Arab and Middle Eastern cultures, where users chew it for an
energy boost the way Westerners down cups of strong coffee

Why is the U.S. concerned? U.S. Customs officials say importation of the
substance is on the rise, use appears to be spreading and New Jersey has
become one of the main ports of entry for smuggling efforts.

Source U.S. Department of Justice