'LEGAL' NARCOTIC LANDS COURIERS IN JAIL

Exporter Of Khat, Which Is Legal In UK, Seeks Clarification Of Law After
Prison Term In Norway.

A young woman and an elderly man jailed for smuggling the drug khat
called yesterday for clarification of the law. It is legal to buy khat
in the United Kingdom, but if it is taken into many foreign countries
it can lead to long prison terms.

This week, the woman, from the Bronx, New York, who is living in
Hornsey, north London, and the 74-year-old man from Dulwich, south
London, were deported from Norway for importing khat, a narcotic leaf.
They had both served sentences of 14 days after being found with the
drug at Sola airport, Stavanger, on September 14.

Khat, a plant whose leaves people chew, is cultivated throughout east
Africa and the Arabian peninsula. It is treated differently in various
parts of the world - banned in the US, Canada, Scandinavia,
Switzerland, and most of the Middle East, excluding Yemen, but bought
legally in London. It contains two pharmacologically active
ingredients, cathinone and cathine, the effects of which are similar
to amphetamine sulphate.

The deported woman, Jennifer Mancuso, told the Norwegian court that
she was unaware that the khat she was importing - an amount weighing
32 kilos - was regarded as a drug. She had been supplementing her
income by taking khat to Somali people in Norway.

Yesterday, Ms Mancuso, now back in England, said the international
position on khat was unclear. "You can buy it in Wembley for UKP1 or
UKP2 a bunch," she said. "I've never been in any trouble with the law
before."

Ms Mancuso said that there were other people in prison in Norway for
the same offence. "There wasn't much to read in jail, except the
Bible," she said. "We found the passage in Genesis which talks about
God creating all the plants and quoted that at the prison officers."
The Dulwich pensioner, who was arrested with 27 kilos of khat, said he
had been asked by a Somali man to take a package to Norway. Recently
widowed, he said he had needed the money offered, UKP300, to pay for a
headstone for his late wife. He said he did not know the leaf was
prohibited. "If I had known it was a narcotic I wouldn't have gone
near it. I knew they didn't want it there, but I thought it was like a
banned vegetable," he said yesterday.

In a previous khat case in Norway, Raymond and Joanne Edwards, from
south London, were jailed for four weeks and deported after being
arrested trying to get to Sweden. The penalty in Sweden would have
been six months in jail.

In Ireland, khat has been illegal since 1990. In June, Martin Dowling,
from Bristol, was fined UKP800 at Ennis district court after pleading
guilty to possessing 40 kilos with intent to supply at Shannon airport
while in transit to the US. He had two suitcases of khat, valued at
$16,000 (UKP9,470).

In the UK, however, khat is legal and can be bought at Somali and
Yemeni shops, or from stalls in Shepherd's Bush, Wembley and the East
End, says Kevin Rushby, author of Eating the Flowers of Paradise, a
book on khat.

A Home Office spokeswoman said yesterday: "There is no review [of the
law regarding khat]... it is not regarded as a problem."

The Home Office minister with responsibility for drugs, George
Howarth, has received only one letter of concern about khat this year.
The last review of the drug was 10 years ago and he says the law will
only be looked at if fresh evidence about the drug is presented.

A Customs and Excise spokesman said that if they spotted someone
taking khat to the US, they would inform the authorities there. A
number of gullible young people in the UK have been used as couriers
to take it to the US.

Khat imports to the UK have not caused problems. In 1994, 147 sacks of
khat - valued at more than UKP250,000 - were found on a British
Airways flight from Nairobi to Heathrow. Fourteen people were arrested
but only charged with benefit fraud.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry