Exotic shrub a choice of cabbies

Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | 09/28/07 | Joseph A. Gambardello and Ashwin Verghese

[Kid Shelleen]

An ancient drug has found a new illegal market in Philadelphia. The drug, khat, is a stimulant with varying degrees of potency. It is found in the leaf of an evergreen shrub from East Africa and the Arabian peninsula, both places where it is widely used.

Philadelphia police said yesterday they seized 740 pounds of khat --sbip-- the market for khat is within the city's African immigrant community

[ApplegateRanch]

I thought the thriving dhog market was in Korea?

You're thinking of the related dhong kee market.

[Kid Shelleen]

but they are doing the work Americans won’t do..

[hocndoc]

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/khat.html
http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs5/5116/5116p.pdf
There’s no reason given by the DEA for making the plant illegal that couldn’t be given for caffeine and nicotine.

And yet, the DEA has the plant classified with crack cocaine and meth!

Oleander, Datura, Brugmansia, castor bean, lantana can be bought, sold and traded although they are deadly poisons. But try ordering poppy seeds to plant next to your St. John’s Wort, and you might get them, you might not. And the poor little old lady who sells them might end up in jail.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/edible/msg021133426494.html

This stuff just bugs the dickens out of me. A plant that could grow in the back yard, should not be regulated, much less “illegal.”

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

I say it’s time to call in the USDA troops for a Round-Up.

When problems like this crop up, it’s about economic power—follow the lettuce to get to the root.

One way to identify a cabbie involved in this recreational trafficking is a lot of 24 carrot chains—and frequent stops at Farmer’s Markets....

---

Thanks. I’ll be here all week. Try the kim chee, very good.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

Don’t miss the dhong kee kong market, where they sell Arthropod Treacher’s Chimp and Chips.

[SShultz460]

A khat ring in Minnesota got shut down not long ago. It was big in the suburbs

[miliantnutcase]

The somalies in Minneapolis get really F’d up on this stuff and many show up disproportionately on my mom’s psych ward at the hospital.

[Larry Lucido]

"Khat! It's you! What you say?"

[SunkenCiv]

[punster]

“Don’t miss the dhong kee kong market, where they sell Arthropod Treacher’s Chimp and Chips.”

I seem to remember this story about Tarzan, King of the apes:

Jane sent Tarzan out to get dinner. Tarzan came back shortly with some small birds. Jane was very unhappy, and sent Tarzan out to get something to go with the birds.

Soon, Tarzan came back with a chimpanzee, he had killed.

Jane was furious. She snapped, “Is that all you can ever think of for dinner, finch and chimps?”

[glock rocks]

I’ve never heard of it... do you know how someone under the influence of this drug behaves? What are the effects. I’ll google in the meanwhile, but I’d rather have a FReeper’s opinion to put things in balance. TIA.

[Salamander]

...and yet not one cab-bage joke.

[SlowBoat407]

[SlowBoat407]

We demand... A SHRUBBERY!!!!!

[punster]

I think it would be interesting to watch a cabbie-age.

[Drago]

http://www.streetdrugs.org/khat.htm

Sounds pretty tame to me...right up there with coffee.

[dixiechick2000]

Khat?

I guess the ME economy is thriving here.
The global economy on ‘roids, I’d say.

Would this come under the Commerce clause? ;o)

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

Commerce clause?

No. This has to do with the Middle East, as you note.

Jurisdiction is pursuant to the Sandy Clause.

[dixiechick2000]

"Jurisdiction is pursuant to the Sandy Clause."

LOL!

Seems more likely to me that jurisdiction would be more persuant to Santy Claus. ;o)

[Daffynition]

In animals, Khat produces excitation and increased motor activity.