Thread: Right to break American law a "Cultural Issue"

14 Somalis accused of dealing drug khat
But community says it's a cultural issue
By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
P-I REPORTER Seattle Post Intelligencer

In Seattle and the United States, the stimulant called khat is a vegetable considered by the law to be a dangerous narcotic.
But to the Somali Americans who live in King County, khat (pronounced "cot") is more like a strong cup of coffee, enmeshed in the social fabric of East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
Wednesday, DEA agents arrested 14 members of greater Seattle's Somali community, each on two felony counts of conspiracy to import and distribute the drug that is commonly chewed like tobacco in countries such as Somalia, Yemen, Kenya and Ethiopia. If found guilty, they could face up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. All 14 pleaded not guilty and were held pending further court appearances.
Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Rodney Benson said the investigation began in New York 18 months ago when couriers were found to be bringing the leafy drug into the country. Federal prosecutors there obtained indictments against 44 people. Agents in Western Washington began their inquiry about five months ago when a Seattle cell was uncovered, Benson said.
Benson's agents, with the help of police departments such as Tukwila, Seattle and the King County Sheriff's Office, raided 17 locations in King County early Wednesday. More than 1,000 pounds of khat has been seized in the course of the investigation in the Seattle area. Benson said the local cell -- believed to be led by Mahamoud Omar Jama, 36, of Kent -- moved about a ton of khat a month. Asked how much money was involved, Benson said: "Millions."
"These people charged are the ones that were making the millions and have a complete disregard for their community," said Benson, who asserts that khat has a "high tendency for abuse and no medical use."
A DEA press release says "the primary effects of chewing khat are euphoria and stimulation."
But members of the Somali community -- who watched with dismay Wednesday as friends and relatives faced a federal magistrate -- say arresting people for dealing in khat would be like criminalizing consumption of tobacco or coffee.
"It's not a crime, it's a cultural use," said Saleh Ismil, a Somali American living in Seattle. "You can invite somebody to your house and it is a social grace to offer khat. We use it here. No question about it. Just to socialize -- just like coffee."

Attorney Terry Kellogg, who represents one of those charged, asserted Wednesday: "We've got a cultural defense. It's like caffeine. If these guys go to prison, so should (Starbucks chairman) Howard Schultz."
Abdi Said, a Seattle cab driver from Somalia who is now a U.S. citizen, watched from the gallery Wednesday as friends and fellow cab drivers were ordered held.
"In East Africa, you could say that 60 percent of the men use khat. Here, maybe 5 percent use it.
"We don't think of it as a drug. Just something you have at a gathering, talking together."
Ali Ali, who has been in the United States for seven years and is a U.S. citizen, said khat use is not that common here and agreed with Said's 5 percent figure.
Khat, he said, "is sometimes hard to find and sometimes you can get it."
According to Benson, the Seattle street price for khat is about $700 per kilo (2.2 pounds). In East Africa, it can be bought for about $1 per kilo. That huge markup generates huge profits, he said. Benson said money has been shipped back to Africa and the Middle East.
Asked whether agents believe the money is being used to fund terrorism, Benson was careful to say that the indictments make no such allegation. But he said:
"When you talk about that region of the world, when you look at Somalia and Yemen and that region of East Africa where terrorism is a concern for law enforcement, we just have to thoroughly investigate the matter.
"That money is going back to that region of the world. We're talking about millions of dollars."
Asked about the potency of the drug, Benson said that it is most potent if used immediately after harvest and that it loses much of its potency over time. Nevertheless, even khat leafs that are not fresh contain a less potent, illegal substance.
Many of the Somali people present Wednesday said that by the time the khat is consumed, it has lost most of its potency and provides a buzz not unlike a strong cup of coffee.
Defendants charged in New York are accused of mailing the khat or sending it with couriers aboard commercial airliners to Washington, Ohio, Minnesota, Maine, Massachusetts, Utah, Illinois and Washington, D.C.
WHAT IS KHAT?
Khat is a vegetable stimulant chewed like tobacco that can create a euphoric buzz. It comes from fresh leaves, shoots and twigs of an evergreen shrub or small tree found in eastern Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula.
• The Seattle street price for khat is about $700 per kilo (2.2 pounds)
• World Health Organization experts have reported psychosis in people addicted to khat and that it can result in low birth weight of infants born to addicted mothers.
• Khat's active ingredients, cathinone and cathine, are classified as controlled substances by the United Nations.
• Experts are divided over whether khat should be called a narcotic, with some saying it is only mildly addictive.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky can be reached at 206-448-8072 or paulshukovsky@seattlepi.com.

I guess the next time the police arrest a bunch of white college students for underage drinking they can use the defense that because they could drink if they were in Europe that the police are discriminating aganist their culture.