Making a federal case out of an obscure leaf (Khat)

[RamboLiberal]

Source: MSNBC

When federal drug enforcement agents announced last summer that they had arrested scores of suspects in an “international narcotics-trafficking organization” with operations in New York and Seattle, they hailed it as the first major crackdown on khat — a plant grown in the Horn of Africa and chewed like tobacco for its stimulant buzz.

But more than nine months later, prosecutors in Seattle have dismissed charges against all but a handful of defendants, and the few expected to go to trial next month are considered to have a good chance of avoiding jail. The New York case, meantime, is teetering on a fine legal argument over whether khat is a powerful illicit stimulant or something more akin to a double espresso.

The dual cases have rocked close-knit Somali communities in the United States, raising fears among the mostly Muslim immigrants that the defendants could be deported back to the violence and chaos they fled. They also are concerned that the lives of those left behind will be complicated by the government’s implications that the khat trade is somehow linked to terrorist networks in northeastern Africa.

The government’s zeal in pursuing khat smugglers also has raised questions about its priorities. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration led the 18-month-long investigation that spanned three continents, involved a dozen federal, state and local agencies and required thousands of hours of wiretapping. Dozens of court-appointed attorneys have represented defendants who could not afford lawyers.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18096999/

[FatDave]

1. In other news...

In other news, methamphetamine continues to ravage the midwest. But then, I guess meth users are good god-fearing white people, not scary dark muslims.

You know, more and more I think the thing that most separates America from other countries is the lengths we go to in order to continue pursuing long-failed policies.

[downindixie]

2. Making a federal case out of an obscure leaf (Khat)

"Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation,and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes"
Abraham Lincoln

[High Plains]

3. Just another in an endless list of drug war excesses.

Will the Democrats do anything about this? I didn't think so.

[Javaman]

4. I read about this stuff years ago during our first foray into somalia...

it's akin to getting a buzz off of a couple of beers and to do that, you have to chew a shit load of this khrap.

Like the story says, a strong cup of coffee would do the trick in a much faster amount of time.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

6. It's MUCH stronger than coffee

I spent a Labor Day weekend on khat several years ago -- courtesy of some Ethiopian friends.

I would say that it's closer to marijuana -- excpet that where weed leaves one kind of fuzzy, khat left me sharp.

I was at a club and could follow several different conversations going on around me simultaneously. I could also read/comprehend at a much faster rate than normal. (The Ethiopians said they used it to study back home -- so we spent all day Sunday eating the khat, making tea and studying.)

[Javaman]

7. What did it taste like? nt

[MadMaddie]

5. Why are we wasting manpower and money on this bullshit...

The problem is the corporate companies haven't figured out how to make money...