ONCE RARE, ILLEGAL KHAT IN DEMAND AMONG AREA IMMIGRANTS

Khat--the addictive leaf that Somali street fighters chewed in "Black Hawk
Down"--is making its way to Chicago.

The mild stimulant is legal in East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and
Europe, but in the United States it is classified as a Schedule One drug
with no medical purpose, like heroin or marijuana.

Seizures of the drug have doubled at U.S. ports of entry from 17 metric
tons in 1996 to 37 tons in 2001.

In Chicago, where the drug was virtually unheard of until several years
ago, U.S. Customs investigators have made 49 seizures at O'Hare Airport
since last October. The smallest was 26 pounds and the largest, 253 pounds,
said Cherise Miles, an agency spokeswoman.

Chicago police and postal investigators made their most recent bust last
Wednesday when they found two damp boxes filled with khat at a Federal
Express office in Skokie.

The boxes were shipped from England, where khat is legal. They were
destined for an address in Rogers Park, where there is a demand for the
drug in the African immigrant community, Sgt. Michael Ryle said.

Investigators found 168 bundles of the plant, wrapped in banana leaves and
smelling of acrid, decomposing mulch. The shipment was valued at
$7,400--far less than the same weight of marijuana. Pot sells for about $6
a gram; khat, 35 cents, Ryle said.

"This stuff is not being sold on street corners," he said, adding that
investigators believe the users are from Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Yemen.

In Yemen, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, as many as
three of every four people chew khat and spend 40 percent of the family
budget on the drug.

Khat--also spelled qat--was featured in "Black Hawk Down," the book and
movie about 18 U.S. soldiers killed in an October 1993 fight with a Somali
warlord's fighters, who used the drug to keep alert.

In the book, author Mark Bowden describes the drug as "a mild amphetamine
that looks like watercress."

"Mid-afternoon was the height of the daily cycle," Bowden wrote. "Most
started chewing at about noon, and by late afternoon were wired, jumpy and
raring to go. Late at night it was just the opposite. The khat chewers had
crashed."

Dr. Gary Slutkin, who worked in Somalia in the 1980s, said khat was
commonly used there like chewing tobacco.

"Many a day I would be driven from Mogadishu on long trips with the driver
chewing and spitting to stay awake," Slutkin said.

Sisay Abebe, owner of the Ethiopian Diamond Restaurant at 6120 N. Broadway,
said some youths used khat in his home country while studying. Khat also
was chewed in some tea houses. But it was not universally accepted.

"You would never chew khat and tell your parents--just like you wouldn't
tell them you smoked cigarettes," he said.

Abebe said he does not know any khat users in Chicago. But a friend, who
asked that his name not be used, said he's heard of fellow countrymen using
it here.

Although the drug is illegal here, the DEA is not involved in any
prosecutions involving khat in the Chicago region, said agency spokesman
Gary Boertlein.

One of the problems with bringing a case is that the potency of khat
rapidly diminishes 48 hours after harvesting, Boertlein said.

"I have been told there are test cases in Ohio and Michigan," Boertlein
said, noting that the DEA issued a brief on khat in June. "This is still
new to us."