IMMIGRANT INFLUX BRINGS NEW ILLEGAL DRUG TO CITIES

Custom Of Chewing 'Khat' Sparks Market And Arrests

COLUMBUS, Ohio - An influx of immigrants from Somalia and other African and
Middle Eastern countries has led to increased use in some U.S. cities of
the illegal drug khat, a leaf that is chewed for its amphetamine-like high,
authorities say.

Khat has been seen in cities such as Detroit and New York since the 1980s.
But it was virtually unknown in Columbus and Minneapolis until the late
1990s, law enforcement authorities say.

Use of the drug appears to be confined largely to immigrant communities,
police in Columbus and Minneapolis say.

Khat has been illegal since 1993 in the United States. According to the
Drug Enforcement Administration, chronic use can cause violence and
suicidal depression similar to amphetamine addiction.

Khat has increased in prevalence in the past several years with an influx
of immigrants from countries such as Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Yemen
where khat is widely used, authorities say.

"What coffee is to Americans is what khat is for Somalis," said Omar Jamal,
executive manager of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
"The whole thing about khat being addictive is very strange for Somalis.
It's a completely different frame of thinking."

Community groups say their people are being targeted, unaware they are
breaking the law. Police say they are confident that immigrants know khat
is illegal.

Khat leaves contain cathinone, which is chemically similar to amphetamine.
The shiny, bright green or reddish-green leaves are sold attached to thin,
rhubarblike stems. A bundle of 15 to 35 sticks costs about $40 in Columbus.
Users often brew the leaves or stuff them into their cheeks like chewing
tobacco.

"Like what you would get from two or three beers -that little feeling that
lets people forget problems and troubles," said Ali Sharrif of Toronto, who
is from Somalia and said he used to chew khat in his homeland.

"You feel like you are suddenly very, very alert," he said.

Most khat that makes its way to the United States comes from East Africa,
where it is a major export. Because khat's potency drops sharply after 48
hours, it usually is delivered by air express or by courier.

In Hennepin County, which includes the Minneapolis area, khat-related
charges have been filed against 10 to 20 people in the past year, said Dan
Rogan, spokesman for the county attorney's office. St. Paul- Minneapolis
has the nation's biggest Somali community, estimated at up to 50,000 members.

In Columbus, with an estimated 30,000-plus Somalis in the second- biggest
concentration in the United States, police have seized 860 pounds of khat
so far this year. Sgt. Ben Casuccio said that in all of last year, Columbus
police seized 633 pounds. In 2000, they confiscated about 8 1/2 pounds.

The number of khat-related charges in Columbus was not available because
authorities do not classify charges by drug.

Nationally, DEA and Customs officials said they seized 40 tons in 2001,
more than double the amount confiscated in 1996.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, possession of more than about 45
pounds of khat is punishable by up 16 months in prison.

Maryam Warsame, leader of the Somali Women's Association in Columbus, said
khat is to blame for the breakup of many marriages.

Men go off to use khat, and "it is the woman who has to stay with the
children, take care of the house," Warsame said. "And sometimes the
paycheck does not come home. They have to pay whoever is selling the khat,
instead of giving it to their family, to their children."