Khat Chewers of Brooklyn
12-22-1992
^Retransmitting to fix category code. Users of Khat in U.S. Say Narcotic Leaf Getting Bad Rap
^By ANDREW SELSKY
^Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) _ The khat chewers of Brooklyn are angry.
Behind the facades of Arab cafes and clubhouses shoehorned among yuppie bars, delis and pizza joints, a subculture of khat has existed for years.
Now, the hundreds of Yemeni and Somali immigrants who use the leafy, mild narcotic say it's been given a bad rap because of news reports that gunmen in Somalia become trigger-happy after using it.
Dr. Kevin Cahill, a tropical disease specialist in New York who has made 38 trips to Somalia, said khat alone does not seem to make people violent.
"But the anarchy in the last two years in Somalia, and possible effects of lack of food or nutrition" may be having an effect, Cahill said. "All drugs act differently with people under stress and with a lack of nutrition."
Use of khat, an illegal substance largely ignored by law enforcement authorities, appears to be going underground.
"Why are you asking questions about khat," demands a man serving sweet, spicy tea at the National Association of Yemeni Immigrants. The man, wearing baggy clothes and a multi-colored skullcap, says there is no khat at the social club.
A half-hour later, Yemeni cab driver Motahar Abduh goes in and asks for khat (pronounced 'gaht'), and is offered a little bundle for $28, enough for about a four-hour chew.
In the mid-1980s, officials stopped allowing khat into the United States because insects and diseases sometimes found in the plant endanger U.S. agriculture, said Peter Grosser, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official.
"We would get branches of it, 1 to 1 1/2 feet long, tied in bundles and stuffed into cardboard boxes ... shipped on overnight air courier from England and the Middle East," said Grosser, who was in charge of plant inspection at Kennedy International Airport in the 1980s.
Abduh said that after authorities refused to allow khat through JFK airport, a major importer began having it flown to Canada, then brought to New York by car.
Although khat is classified as a controlled drug, the Drug Enforcement Administration has its hands full fighting heroin, cocaine and other dangerous drugs and is not going after khat users or dealers, said Roger Guevara, a DEA spokesman in Washington.
"By DEA standards it's well down on the totem pole as far as it being a controlled drug," he said.
Khat does not grow in Somalia, but flourishes legally in the highlands of neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia. It is flown in regularly to Somalia, and has been blamed for much of the looting and random shooting by thousands of men in the impoverished African nation.
Khat users here say it makes a person more sociable and liken khat gatherings to cocktail parties.
"People in newspapers say khat is bad, that if you eat it you won't know who your father is, your mother. It's not true," said a cook at the Yemen Cafe, around the corner from the social club. He identified himself only as Hatir.
Several men who entered the warm cafe on a wintry day with calls of "Salaam" (peace) after attending a nearby mosque said reports that khat makes Somali gunmen violence-prone are overblown.
Abdul Hamad, relaxing at the social club, said khat is not considered a drug in Yemen, any more than coffee or tea is in the United States, and that it helps keep Yemeni immigrants together.
"Khat is the only thing we can share from our culture. We grew up with it," he said. "It is not a drug, but I'm afraid my country will get an image as a drug-addicted nation."
^Retransmitting to fix category code. Users of Khat in U.S. Say Narcotic Leaf Getting Bad Rap
^By ANDREW SELSKY
^Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) _ The khat chewers of Brooklyn are angry.
Behind the facades of Arab cafes and clubhouses shoehorned among yuppie bars, delis and pizza joints, a subculture of khat has existed for years.
Now, the hundreds of Yemeni and Somali immigrants who use the leafy, mild narcotic say it's been given a bad rap because of news reports that gunmen in Somalia become trigger-happy after using it.
Dr. Kevin Cahill, a tropical disease specialist in New York who has made 38 trips to Somalia, said khat alone does not seem to make people violent.
"But the anarchy in the last two years in Somalia, and possible effects of lack of food or nutrition" may be having an effect, Cahill said. "All drugs act differently with people under stress and with a lack of nutrition."
Use of khat, an illegal substance largely ignored by law enforcement authorities, appears to be going underground.
"Why are you asking questions about khat," demands a man serving sweet, spicy tea at the National Association of Yemeni Immigrants. The man, wearing baggy clothes and a multi-colored skullcap, says there is no khat at the social club.
A half-hour later, Yemeni cab driver Motahar Abduh goes in and asks for khat (pronounced 'gaht'), and is offered a little bundle for $28, enough for about a four-hour chew.
In the mid-1980s, officials stopped allowing khat into the United States because insects and diseases sometimes found in the plant endanger U.S. agriculture, said Peter Grosser, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official.
"We would get branches of it, 1 to 1 1/2 feet long, tied in bundles and stuffed into cardboard boxes ... shipped on overnight air courier from England and the Middle East," said Grosser, who was in charge of plant inspection at Kennedy International Airport in the 1980s.
Abduh said that after authorities refused to allow khat through JFK airport, a major importer began having it flown to Canada, then brought to New York by car.
Although khat is classified as a controlled drug, the Drug Enforcement Administration has its hands full fighting heroin, cocaine and other dangerous drugs and is not going after khat users or dealers, said Roger Guevara, a DEA spokesman in Washington.
"By DEA standards it's well down on the totem pole as far as it being a controlled drug," he said.
Khat does not grow in Somalia, but flourishes legally in the highlands of neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia. It is flown in regularly to Somalia, and has been blamed for much of the looting and random shooting by thousands of men in the impoverished African nation.
Khat users here say it makes a person more sociable and liken khat gatherings to cocktail parties.
"People in newspapers say khat is bad, that if you eat it you won't know who your father is, your mother. It's not true," said a cook at the Yemen Cafe, around the corner from the social club. He identified himself only as Hatir.
Several men who entered the warm cafe on a wintry day with calls of "Salaam" (peace) after attending a nearby mosque said reports that khat makes Somali gunmen violence-prone are overblown.
Abdul Hamad, relaxing at the social club, said khat is not considered a drug in Yemen, any more than coffee or tea is in the United States, and that it helps keep Yemeni immigrants together.
"Khat is the only thing we can share from our culture. We grew up with it," he said. "It is not a drug, but I'm afraid my country will get an image as a drug-addicted nation."
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