KAVA TEA DUI CASE PUTS SPOTLIGHT ON COMMUNITY STEEPED IN TRADITION

[] Courts: Ceremonial drink, while not illegal, impaired Tongan man's
driving, D.A. says.

SAN MATEO, Calif.--In the predawn gloom of an empty roadside in this
suburban city south of San Francisco, modern American life collided
with ancient Tongan tradition and wound up in court.

Taufui Piutau, a native of Tonga, was cited for driving under the
influence--of kava tea, a legal substance widely used in Polynesian
social rituals.

When San Mateo County prosecutors charged the 47-year-old man with
drunk driving last week, they set off a furor that touches on legal
questions, social issues, Tongan tradition and organic chemistry.

"It's the first time someone in the state of California has been
charged with driving under the influence of kava," said Stockton
attorney Scott Ennis, who is representing Piutau. "Kava is not
illegal. This is nuts--it's just crazy." Prosecutors said they spent
nine months researching kava and its effect on motor skills before
filing the misdemeanor charge against Piutau.

"I have no idea what kava is, but it affected his driving," said San
Mateo County Dist. Atty. Jim Fox. "Our understanding from expert
witnesses is that kava has hallucinogenic properties, and it's clear
that that effect impairs an individual's ability to drive."

The saga began in August, as Piutau drove home at 3 a.m. from his
church's kava circle. The social ceremony, in which cups of kava tea
are dipped from a communal bowl, had lasted about six hours.

California Highway Patrol officers who stopped Piutau said he was
weaving between the lanes of U.S. 101. Piutau allegedly failed a
sobriety test, but tested negative for alcohol and drugs.

He told investigators that he had drunk about eight cups of kava tea,
according to the CHP. The active ingredients of the tea, which is made
from the root of a plant called piper methysticum, are called
kavalactones, and they act on the brain to produce a calming effect.
Now popular in the United States, kava is available in many forms and
strengths.

Ennis said his client wasn't drunk; he was simply exhausted from the
late hour and from sitting cross-legged in a circle for so long.

California law covers driving under the influence of anything that
might affect the brain, muscles or central nervous system and could
prevent the driver from safely operating a motor vehicle, Fox said.
Within a week of his arrest, Piutau was suspended without pay from his
delivery job at United Parcel Service.

The exotic case has made international news. Ennis has received calls
not only from local newspapers, but also from "Good Morning America,"
"Dateline NBC," "Extra," National Public Radio, CBS Radio commentator
Charles Osgood and the German wire service Deutsche
Presse-Agentur.

"Taufui is shell-shocked; he got arrested, he lost his job and now
he's going to trial," Ennis said. "He has exposed himself to the
public much more than he ever thought he would, and he just doesn't
understand."

Cultural differences have complicated the matter, experts in the South
Pacific say. Tonga, a tiny island nation ruled by a king, has a
complex network of social strata in which the kava ceremony plays a
central role.

"Kava is culturally significant and plays a major role in how people
formalize certain celebrations--for example, the installment of a
noble title," said Emeline Uheina Tuita, consul general of Tonga who
serves the 8,000 Tongans in the Bay Area. "In the traditional culture,
the event is not really formalized until the kava ceremony is held,
with the king at the head of the kava circle."

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Pope John Paul II, President Lyndon B. Johnson
and Queen Elizabeth II have been feted with kava ceremonies.

The kava circle often takes on increased importance to expatriate
Tongans eager to maintain cultural ties with their homeland, Tuita
said. Bay Area Tongans rely on church networks for moral and social
support, and kava circles like the one Piutau attended are common.

Also common is the Tongan respect for authority.

"They come from a culture where there is awareness and respect for
people of a higher rank. It's an integral part of their lives," said
Janet Hoskins, professor of anthropology at USC. "Whatever [Piutau]
said to the CHP officers was most likely respectful, and he probably
answered all their questions fully--perhaps too fully for his own good."

Definitive answers about kava are hard to come by. Although it is
among the herbal remedies that have become popular recently,
information about it is scarce. The lack of standardized measurements
makes it difficult to know how much of the active ingredient the
various kava teas, infusions and tinctures contain.

"This is an agent that just hasn't been studied the way chemical
synthetic agents have been studied," said Michael Wincor, associate
professor of clinical pharmacology at USC. "We don't know how much is
too much, although we do know that taking too much is certainly a
possibility."

The consul general agreed. "It is possible that kava can impair your
ability to drive, so it concerns me. I would not endorse saying, 'Hey,
listen, this is social activity; leave it alone,' " she said. "But I
wouldn't like to see it banned either. I think people must become
aware, and they must be careful."

Piutau has a temporary job at a warehouse and is awaiting his June 26
trial. If convicted, he faces up to six months in jail and a $500 fine.