Free Republic

ISIS fighters are taking cheap, easy-to-make amphetamine pills that help keep them awake for days, which is fuelling the civil war in Syria. The small tablets of the highly addictive substance Captagon are produced in Syria and is widely available across the Middle East. It is thought that the trade of the drugs brings in millions of dollars in revenue to Syria, providing funding for weapons and ammunition. .......A drug control officer in the central city of Homs said he had observed the effects of Captagon on protesters and fighters held for questioning. He told Reuters news agency: 'We would...

Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar called on the federal government to take the lead in legalizing marijuana nationwide, warning that legal differences between states was exacerbating economic inequality. The progressive Minnesota representative told BET that the federal government — which has long considered marijuana a medically unnecessary, illegal drug on par with heroin and cocaine — should strive to ensure consistency between states on the issue, according to the Star Tribune."What happens [without full legalization] is you will have a state where someone is publicly and professionally able to profit and the next state, someone could be sent to life [in prison]...

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by my (imaginary) friend, the Very Honorable Ima Librul, Senator from the great State of Confusion Utopia. He is a founding member of CCCEB (Climate Change Causes Everything Bad), a charter member of President Obama’s Go For it Team, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the Meretricious Relations Subcommittee. He is also justly proud of his expertise in the care and breeding of green unicorns, for which his Save the Unicorns Foundation has received substantial Federal grants. We are honored to have a post of this caliber by a quintessential Librul such as...

Shortly before Christmas 2012, a group of young men booked a room at a Premier Inn in Bristol. The friends, all in their early 20s and members of the city’s Somali community, chatted, drank and chewed the stimulant khat. One of the men, a local drug dealer called Said Zakaria – also known by his street name Target – was tasked with the job of finding some girls to “party with”. Zakaria, 22, made a few calls and went off to pick up a girl he had been having sex with who can only be identified as Complainant 1 –...

The British government says it is banning khat, an herbal stimulant, despite advice against such a move by an official advisory body. Khat, also known as cathonine, is popular in parts of the Middle East and Africa, where users chew the leaf to release stimulants that produce a mild high. …

The Dutch government Tuesday banned the use of khat, a leaf native to East Africa chewed for its stimulant properties mainly by the Netherlands' sizeable Somali community. "The drug khat is banned," the Dutch Immigration, Health and Justice departments said in a joint statement. Khat is grown in the Horn of Africa and has for centuries been chewed by users in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Yemen. "The problem lies especially within the Somali community, which is much larger than the Kenyan or Yemeni communities within our country," immigration department spokesman Frank Wassenaar told AFP, adding there were about 27,000 Somalis...

Drug Travels From Africa To Indianapolis In 48 Hours. Most residents of Indianapolis, including many in the law enforcement community, have never heard of the drug called khat...over the past three years, hundreds of pounds of the drug have been sold on the streets of Indianapolis, mostly to people of African descent... Khat is a plant that grows plentifully in east Africa, specifically in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. Users chew the leaves of the plant to release a compound called cathinone, which is considered a "schedule 1" amphetamine and hallucinogen under U.S. law... traffickers used cell phones and sophisticated code...

Possessing the plant khat is illegal under Minnesota law, and prosecuting violators does not infringe on their religious freedom, the state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. The euphoria-producing plant is popular in East African nations and among that region's immigrants in the Twin Cities. Some of their advocates say prosecuting them for possessing it unfairly brands them as criminals and makes them more susceptible to recruitment by terrorists. The ruling marks the third time that Minnesota's appellate courts have found khat (pronounced "cot") to be illegal, although it is unlikely to be the last word. The latest case started in...

Better late than never, the Obama administration finally is bringing war to the terrorist breeding grounds of lawless Yemen. In 2010, expect many more aerial strikes like those the Yemeni air force carried out Dec. 24. Those strikes took out dozens of al-Qaeda terrorists at a planning confab. The coming U.S.-guided terrorist hunt over Yemen is a good first, if rather obvious, step. But the time is ripe for a companion tactic that is so ill-apparent as to sound, I admit, almost kooky. Still, the tactic should be part of any stratagem for Yemen. The Obama administration should pressure Great...

The narcotic leaf is a time-honored tradition in Africa but illegal in the U.S., where demand is growing. Reporting from Washington -- In the heart of the Ethiopian community here, a group of friends gathered after work in an office to chew on dried khat leaves before going home to their wives and children. Sweet tea and sodas stood on a circular wooden table between green mounds of the plant, a mild narcotic grown in the Horn of Africa. As the sky grew darker the conversation became increasingly heated, flipping from religion to jobs to local politics. Suddenly, one of...

(CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA -- Police are sounding an alert, warning residents against a new drug that has hit the streets of Philadelphia. The drug, known as khat, was seized by Philadelphia Police Officers Wednesday. CBS 3 has learned 740 lbs. of khat was recovered at a home in East Falls after being shipped to Philadelphia from East Africa in containers. Sources said the seizure is the first of its kind in Pennsylvania. "We definitely want to make sure that the public is made aware of this new drug to our area," said Philadelphia Police Inspector Aaron Horne. The leafy drug...

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

The discovery of 1,000 pounds of the illegal stimulant khat in a Woodbury storage unit has led to felony drug-possession charges against a Minneapolis couple. Naser Omer Ali, 27, and his wife, Shukria Omer Ali, 25, were arrested March 8 after a Woodbury police officer discovered two bags of khat, a mild narcotic grown in East Africa, in their sport-utility vehicle. Police had pulled them over for an improper lane change and broken taillight. Police also discovered receipts for ministorage units in Minneapolis, Richfield and Woodbury. Washington County narcotics officers searched all three units, but found khat only in the...

The Islamist group which controls much of southern Somalia has banned the popular stimulant khat, a day after protests in which one person died. Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said khat was a bad influence. Many Somali men, especially gunmen, spend hours chewing it each day. He also warned squatters to vacate public buildings they have occupied. After 15 years of conflict, many ministries are full of people who have fled fighting in their home regions. Eyewitnesses say one person was shot dead by Islamist fighters on Thursday following protests over khat shortages. About 60 khat vendors burnt tyres...

Djibouti City, Djibouti- When a handful of Marines show up at a school in this African city equipped with tools, paintbrushes and building materials, their mission is clear: help the children. Servicemembers stationed in Djibouti as part of the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa routinely take part in community outreach programs to help the local citizens. Their endeavors often involve schools and orphanages, but they help improve other aspects of Djiboutian life as well. Many volunteers work during their free time, and it can be a very rewarding experience. "I had never done humanitarian work before," said Lance Cpl....

(SomaliNet) Powerful Islamic Courts Union has on thursday imposed a curfew on the Somalia capital Mogadishu following violent protests raged in the city today in which one person has been killed and others were wounded. The curfew was announced by Islamist's security chief for Banadir province Abdulahi Ali Nahar knowns as Abu-Uteiba who addressed in public square in the capital near where the Khat leafy was burnt today shortly after it was delivered at Mogadishu main airport. "The curfew is starting from tonight 8:00 to 5:00 local time and we are telling the people to stay at thier homes with...

A U.N. employee used U.N. diplomatic pouches to smuggle illegal drugs as part of a ring that brought 25 tons of contraband into New York in the past year and a half, federal prosecutors and the FBI said yesterday.

Fedderal drug enforcement agents announced the indictment today of 44 people across the country, including more than a dozen from Minnesota, on charges of smuggling more than 25 tons of khat, a plant that causes a high when chewed or smoked. The group, mostly East African immigrants, is accused of smuggling bundles of the plant from the Horn of Africa

One of the first Shelbyville confiscations of the African drug khat occurred early Sunday morning. "Approximately 11.26 grams of a green leafy substance believed to be khat" were found in a coat pocket of Mustaf Shire Abdi, 21, Anthony Lane, Officer Tracey Nelson said. Abdi tried to pull away as Officer Benjamin Burris was checking the pocket and was immediately handcuffed, Nelson said. "Khat use is most prevalent among immigrants from Somalia, Ethiopia and Yemen," a May 2003 National Drug Intelligence Center bulletin said. "These individuals use the drug in casual settings or as part of religious ceremonies. "The use...

A mayor in breakaway Somaliland is trying to cut down on the problems caused by khat, a mild stimulant, by moving dealers to the outskirts of the city. "Out of sight, out of mind," the mayor hopes Hussein Mohamud Jiir, mayor of the capital Hargeisa, has set aside tracts of land where he hopes to install the khat merchants. Dealers, however, say there is no point trying to restrict their activities. Khat is a natural amphetamine derived from the leaves of the catha edilus plant. The problem of addiction in Somaliland - which has broken away from Somalia - is...