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  Plants Provoke Culture Clash
Posted by FoM on July 16, 2001 at 09:29:57 PT
By Lisa Fernandez 
Source: San Jose Mercury News  

justice The emergence of exotic plant-based drugs in the Bay Area is sparking a culture clash as immigrants discover that their age-old traditions can violate America's modern-day regulations, and even land them in jail.

The use of substances such as khat, kava and betel nut -- legal and often socially encouraged in immigrants' homelands -- are a growing problem in the Bay Area not only for immigrants but also law enforcement agents, drug counselors and regulators.

``It's overwhelming . . . Don't even get me started,'' said Food and Drug Administration consumer safety officer George Butler. ``There are so many products and ingredients coming in that we do the best we can do, but we just can't keep up.''

Khat, a plant native to East Africa and the Middle East, is a particular concern because it contains cathinone, an amphetamine that is illegal under federal law. Last year, the U.S. Customs Service reported a 46 percent increase in confiscation of khat: 70,000 pounds were seized last year, compared with 48,000 in 1999.

Although both are legal, kava and betel nuts also pose problems. Kava contains a depressant used in drinks in Tongan and Samoan rituals. Two Pacific Islanders on the Peninsula recently have been prosecuted for driving while impaired after consuming kava tea.

Betel nuts are tropical Asian palm tree seeds that act as a stimulant but which may have cancer-causing properties that are made worse when the seeds are combined with tobacco.

At least five Yemeni immigrants in the Bay Area have been prosecuted in recent years for growing khat, which falls into the same drug category as LSD and heroin. One of them is Abdo Algazzali, a 65-year-old father of eight, whose heart still pumps faster talking about the day two years ago when police stormed his San Leandro back yard, whacking down 800 khat plants.

While hunting for the shrubs, police shouted at his wife: ``Where's the cat? The cat?''

They became furious with her denials, unaware that she didn't speak fluent English and that they were mispronouncing the object of their feverish search. Khat is pronounced more like ``ghat.''

``You chew khat every day in Yemen,'' said Algazzali, owner of two convenience stores in San Francisco and Oakland. ``In my country, there is no law against it . . . They treated me worse than if I had been running a crack house.''

Algazzali pleaded no contest last year to a misdemeanor drug charge and promised to buy ``Say No to Khat'' ads in a Yemeni newspaper.

The culture clash is complicated by local, state and federal agencies that sometimes make conflicting decisions.

When contacted by the Mercury News, at least two FDA agents said they believed there was a ban on betel nuts because they are carcinogenic. One Indo-American store owner in Fremont doesn't carry them, citing the ``ban.'' But two similar stores down the street carry them in various shapes and sizes.

There is no ban. In September, however, the FDA did issue a bulletin advising inspectors to use their discretion to decide if the nuts are allowed into the country. FDA rules let inspectors seize products they feel are unsanitary, not truthful in their labeling, not identified in English, or, in the case of betel nuts, may be part of a ``violative trend.''

The FDA could not provide any statistics on how many betel nut packages have been taken.

Other Substances

Other foreign drugs fall into bureaucratic limbo, too.

Ma huang, a Chinese herbal upper that acts like methamphetamine, is considered a ``legal high,'' despite FDA warnings about its link to heart attacks, seizures and psychotic episodes. While khat is illegal under federal law, it's not mentioned in California drug law.

Immigrant advocates say that education, not incarceration, is the best way to deal with newcomers struggling to decipher complicated U.S. rules.

Alison Renteln, author of an upcoming book called ``The Cultural Defense,'' said harsh crackdowns can unfairly penalize immigrants. Her research found a nationwide increase in prosecutions of khat, kava, opium and peyote -- all products used in ritual or religious life.

A Nation of Laws

The University of Southern California professor doesn't advocate breaking the law, but said law enforcement should take cultural beliefs into account before meting out punishment. But police and prosecutors say immigrants must learn to live by the rules of their new country.

``We're a nation of laws,'' said Blair Thomas, an Alameda County prosecutor in charge of drug crimes. ``And the bottom line is the uniformity of the law. If there's a rule, everyone has to abide by it.''

Some of the substances are deemed dangerous even abroad. Agencies in Taiwan and India have warned that betel nuts are linked to mouth cancer, and Yemeni officials recently forbade government workers from chewing khat because they say its overuse can lead to laziness.

Bay Area law enforcement officials acknowledge that exotic drugs are not nearly as worrisome as heroin or cocaine. But they say they want to curb their emergence before their use becomes widespread.

Some East Palo Alto community leaders and drug counselors say they are seeing a greater use of kava. They soon plan to launch an awareness campaign about the drink.

Recent brushes with the law have forced some immigrants to alter their behavior -- abstaining from their cultural staples or hiding their use.

Some Pacific Islanders are more surreptitious in their kava drinking since last year's prosecution of Taufui Piutau, a San Bruno man from Tonga, who was driving after drinking 23 cups. His trial resulted in a hung jury, and he hasn't been retried.

While some immigrants will continue to sneak, drink and chew their hometown concoctions, Algazzali swears he'll respect the U.S. legal system and stay away from khat forever. What he's most worried about is the new sitting room he's building for his guests. What will he serve?

``That's what you do when you have friends over,'' he said. ``You go and sit down and chew khat. Sometimes from one in the afternoon to midnight. I'm still waiting to see if people will come to visit me.''

Published Monday, July 16, 2001, in the San Jose Mercury News

Contact Lisa Fernandez at: lfernandez@sjmercury.com

Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Author: Lisa Fernandez
Published Monday, July 16, 2001
Copyright: 2001 San Jose Mercury News
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/

Related Articles:

Drug Suppliers Use Loophole To Sell 'Magic Mint'
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10314.shtml

Yemeni Find Khat-Chewing Unwelcome
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8459.shtml


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Comment #4 posted by dddd on July 16, 2001 at 20:23:59 PT
absolute absurdity
....it's now to the point,,,where it seems normal,and accepted
for the government to be able to control anything and everything
they feel like controlling,,,,but the darkest part of this,,is that
the government is a long way from being controlled by the people,
the government is now 'for and by the corporations'....this is at the
root of the Romanesque decline of American democracy.

Thousands of pharmaceutical drugs come from hundreds of botanical
sources.

The American government has mutated and morphed into a rapist of
the constitution,,,and a complex empire of deceitful demagogery.


d..d...d.....disgusted


[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #3 posted by Believer on July 16, 2001 at 14:10:12 PT
Unbelievable
>> police and prosecutors say immigrants must learn to
live by the rules of their new country

On one hand they are promissed freedom from religious
persecution, while on the other, the inquisitors beat
them silly.

Here come the vegetable police.
The meat, fish, and egg agencies should be knocking soon.




[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #2 posted by FoM on July 16, 2001 at 10:50:39 PT
observer
Hi observer,
I've had Ephedra Tea many times with no side effects just a little more energy and I could breathe easier. That's the name of the tea too. Breathe Easy.


[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #1 posted by observer on July 16, 2001 at 10:38:49 PT
Free Clue For Government Totalitarians
``It's overwhelming . . . Don't even get me started,'' said Food and Drug Administration consumer safety officer George Butler. ``There are so many products and ingredients coming in that we do the best we can do, but we just can't keep up.''

Here's a clue for the terminally totalitarian and boneheaded bureaucrats: give it up, stupid. There are many more psychoactive plants and an infinite number of mind-altering molecules. Protecting people from "dangerous drugs" is as stupid and pointless as attempting to protect people from "gravity abuse." Or decree the tide shall no longer come in. Ain't gonna happen.

Other foreign drugs fall into bureaucratic limbo, too. Ma huang [i.e. EPHEDRA], a Chinese herbal upper that acts like methamphetamine, is considered a ``legal high,'' despite FDA warnings about its link to heart attacks, seizures and psychotic episodes

Another clue for the clueless: ephedra (Mormon's Tea, Brigham Tea, etc.) is a wild SAGEBRUSH. Government has NO chance of eliminating deserts, or the sagebrush which grows uncultivated, wild, on 1000s of square miles. Not a chance of eliminating that. (The scary reactions listed are very rare, and results of big overdoses, BTW.) Move over King Chanute, the FDA is going to decree that deserts disappear and that sagebrush shall no longer exist.



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