AFRICAN WEED DRAWS FINE

It's a weed out of Africa that turns you into a giddy, sleepless
motormouth. It's also illegal in Canada - although your corner dope
dealer's probably never heard of it.

It's called "khat" (pronounced "cot"). And this month an Edmonton cabbie
was fined in a Calgary courtroom for his third attempt to bring some here -
a rare instance of someone actually being charged with importing the drug
to Canada.

"I've never heard of a seizure in Edmonton. I've never even heard the guys
talk about the stuff," said Det. Clayton Sach, veteran EPS narcotics cop.
"It's not really a street drug here."

Earlier this month, Mohamed Ali Nur of Edmonton was fined $2,000 for trying
to bring 2,852 grams of khat through the Calgary airport.

In his decision, Judge A.A. Fradsham noted that Nur, who is originally from
Ethiopia, had been caught on two previous occasions importing khat into
Canada and wasn't charged in either instance.

"I assume this was in deference to the customs of Mr. Nur's place of
birth," Fradsham said in his decision.

Khat - also known as "African salad" - is very popular in parts of east
Africa, especially where religious bans on alcohol make khat a socially
acceptable alternative.

In Yemen, according to a U.S. government report, three out of every four
people chew khat, and a typical household spends 40% of its income on the
stuff.

It's a shrub. The active ingredients are alkaloids similar to
amphetamine-type compounds. It's typically chewed like plug tobacco,
although it can be smoked, or brewed as tea.

According to a University of Pennsylvania paper, khat use produces feelings
of "exaltation ... of being liberated from space and time" - along with
long periods of babbling and euphoria. The effects are similar to cocaine
use, but milder.

Chronic use can lead to delirium tremens ( the DTs), semicoma and a
weakening of the cardiovascular system.

Khat is also widely used in parts of western Europe where it's legal. One
local Sudanese said he saw people chewing it on street corners when he
lived in Italy.

"It's more of a Somali and Ethiopian thing," said Yol Piom. "It's not
considered an illicit drug in most of Europe."

Sach said he doubts khat will ever catch on in Edmonton.

"You chew it, and that's a bit too rural for our addicts," he said. "People
here prefer something they can smoke or stick in their arms."