PENINSULA KAVA-DRINKING CASE TESTS STATE DUI LAWS

question of whether kava, used in a popular drink in many Pacific Islander
cultures, can be considered a dangerous drug has surfaced again in a San
Mateo County court.

On Wednesday, a jury deadlocked in the case of a Tongan native and kava
drinker from Menlo Park who was pulled over for suspected drunken driving,
leading to a mistrial.

Prosecutors have until June 18 to decide whether to seek another trial,
drop the charge, or seek a plea agreement.

Kalisi Finau, 60, was arrested March 17, 2002, and admitted to drinking
about 10 cups of kava at his church earlier that night, according to his
attorney, Mara Feiger.

Finau had no alcohol or conventional drugs in his system, Feiger said. Yet
prosecutors believed that his drinking kava seriously impaired his ability
to drive his car safely.

Kava is made from the root of a tropical pepper plant. The root is dried,
then pounded into powder and strained through a cloth while being mixed
with water. Kava is popular in the Fijian, Samoan and Tongan communities,
and is consumed for its relaxing effects, often in social settings.

"Kava is a known central nervous system depressant," said San Mateo County
Deputy District Attorney Peter Lynch.

"It is not as commonly seen as alcohol, but its effects can be, with the
right amount of ingestion, just as impairing," he said. "If you can't
operate a motor vehicle safely, there's nothing in the law that gives you
the right to hurl a 3,000-pound vehicle down the road."

This isn't the first time kava has been at the center of a suspected DUI
case in San Mateo County.

In 2000, a 26-year-old Arizona man who had not been consuming alcohol was
accused of driving under the influence after drinking 23 cups of kava. One
judge dismissed the charge because California law has not identified kava
as a drug; a panel of San Mateo county judges then reinstated the case.
Sione Olive ended up pleading guilty to reckless driving.

Earlier in 2000, county prosecutors decided to drop a similar DUI case
against another kava drinker after a jury deadlocked.

In the latest case, the San Mateo County sheriff's deputy who pulled Finau
over about 3 a.m. on March 17 of last year testified in court that Finau
made a dangerous U-turn on Woodside Road, and that Finau failed several
field sobriety tests, Feiger said.

Finau said he drank kava that night, but didn't feel any effects at the
time he was pulled over, Feiger said.