Pubdate: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 Source: Tennessean, The (TN) Copyright: 2002 The Tennessean Contact: http://www.tennessean.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/447 Author: Sheila Burke, Staff Writer NASHVILLE SEEING RISE IN USE OF DRUG KHAT As more immigrants from East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula settle in Nashville, federal drug agents report seeing a rise here of an unwelcome custom: the use of khat, an amphetamine-like drug that is illegal in the United States but is as culturally entrenched in parts of Africa as coffee-drinking is here. While the amounts being seized don't compare to seizures of marijuana and cocaine, they are increasing, Drug Enforcement Administration agents say. ''It's clearly been growing in recent months,'' said Harry Sommers, resident agent in charge of the Nashville office of the DEA. Sommers says his office has been seizing 50-100 pounds a week of the drug in the past 2½ to three months. Nationally, the DEA has seen a steady rise in the amount of khat seized in the country, from 24.3 tons in 1999 to 40.9 tons in 2001, said Will Glaspy, a spokesman for the DEA in Washington. A Nashville cab driver made headlines two weeks ago in Detroit when he was sentenced to two years of probation for his role in a khat-smuggling ring. And last week Metro police vice agents were tipped off by San Diego authorities that they had seized an overnight delivery of the drug intended for a Nashville man. Sold in bundles of stalks, khat costs about $85 a bundle, Sommers said. Khat (pronounced ''kot'') is grown primarily in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and its use predates the use of coffee, the DEA said. It is widely used in Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Yemen, Kenya, Eritrea and Sudan, and it is legal in those countries and in most places in the world, including Britain. But in the United States, chewing on the leaves can land you in jail. Internationally, the World Health Organization has decided to review recommendations that the use of the substance should be controlled, if not actually criminalized, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. Tennessee law lumps khat in with heroin, LSD and marijuana and imposes comparable criminal sentences for possession and trafficking of the drug. Simple possession of cathinone - the amphetamine-like drug found in a fresh batch of khat - can land a user in the county jail for up to 11 months and 29 days. Trafficking in the stimulant carries a penalty of a minimum of eight years and a maximum of 30 years in prison. ''It's legal over there, and so you can go and shop and buy it and just chew it,'' said Gizachew Tesfaye of Nashville, an Ethiopian immigrant who said he doesn't touch the stuff because his Christian faith prohibits it. Many Muslims avoid the plant for religious reasons, as well. Grown on large shrubs primarily in Ethiopia and Kenya, users chew on stalks of the plant much as people here chew tobacco. Sometimes people drink it in tea. The effect of the chewing produces a euphoria that lasts for hours. ''You would equate it to something like amphetamine,'' said Sommers of the DEA. ''It's going to speed the system up. It makes people braver and bolder. It keeps you from sleeping.'' He said it also can make users violent. ''It has been used for thousands of years, generation after generation,'' said Yigzaw Belay, an Ethiopian national who lives in Nashville and who also says he avoids the drug. ''People don't see it as a narcotic.'' Belay said he wrote a graduate-level paper on khat at the University of Iowa. Khat is entrenched in religious and social rituals in many countries, Belay said. Men often sit together, chew khat and talk about social and political issues, he said. Many think the drug is therapeutic. ''I do not believe that it should be categorized along with heroin or cocaine as a hard-core drug, or even marijuana,'' he said. The majority of immigrants from countries where khat use is common probably do not even know it is illegal here, he said. Sommers disagrees, pointing to the growing amount of smuggling. The foot-long bundles are usually wrapped in banana leaves or plastic and shipped overnight, authorities said. The drug loses its potency within days and rots quickly. In fact, the drug breaks down so quickly that it changes from a powerful stimulant and becomes much tamer, taking on the qualities of ephedrine - a drug sold in cold remedies and diet pills - in only a matter of days. It breaks down in about 48 hours. Refrigeration can prolong the potency of the drug. The plant is often rotten in 10 days. The drug breaks down so quickly that Metro police must have it tested immediately by the state crime lab to prove that the user actually possessed khat, one vice officer said. Metro vice agents said they have made few khat arrests but have begun to see a rise in the drug as the immigrant population rises. So far, the drug use is limited to the immigrant population, especially among Somalis, Metro Vice Officer Mike Clark said. About 1,300 of the 2,400 or so East African immigrants recorded by the 2000 Census in the Midstate live in Davidson County. ''As far as we can tell, right now we have not seen anyone else doing it or talking about doing it,'' Clark said, but added that may change. ''I've got a funny feeling we're going to see a whole lot more of it. I just hope that it doesn't branch out.'' Abdishakur Ibrahim, a local Muslim imam, or spiritual leader, who said the drug has ruined his country, agreed. ''The whole country is destroyed by it - gangs and warlords fighting to control the khat,'' said Ibrahim, who is from Somalia. ''It's one of the reasons that caused the destruction of Somalia because people are addicted to it,'' he said. Ibrahim says he has ministered to many families who have been ripped apart by the drug. As he sees it, khat presents a danger to the United States. ''I think we immigrants have a role in the well-being of society. This society is already suffering with enormous drug problems. It's bad for the whole (East African) region. It's bad for Americans. It's bad for everybody.'' - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D