Free Republic

Yemen's opposition has drawn tens of thousands of people to the streets to rally against three decades of autocratic rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, but by noon the protesters quietly vanish. Many head straight from the streets to the souk, or market, to buy bags stuffed with qat, the mild stimulant leaf that over half of Yemen's 23 million people chew daily, wiling away their afternoons in bliss, their cheeks bulging with wads of qat. "After I chew I can't go out. When I chew qat, the whole world is mine. I feel like a king," said Mohammed al-Qadimi,...

Yemen faces an abundance of complex and interrelated social, economic, and environmental problems. Yemen's many challenges are compounded by the country's addiction to qat. Large parts of Yemen’s society and economy are organized around the consumption and production of this stimulant. Qat consists of the tender leaves and shoots of the tree catha edulis, which contain the amphetamine cathinone. Qat must be consumed soon after being harvested because the cathinone begins breaking down after 24 hours. When chewed, qat brings about a state of mild euphoria in the user, often followed by insomnia. Qat is considered a Class 1 drug...

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...

1 hour, 42 minutes ago BERLIN (AFP) - Khat, a plant whose leaves are chewed as a mild drug in East Africa and the Gulf, contains chemicals that may boost male fertility, an international conference was told. Called by its Latin name of Catha edulis, khat has been known for centuries for inducing a sense of euphoria and, say some of its champions, also improves a man's sex drive and ability to sustain an erection. The stimulant in the leaves is called cathinone, which is swiftly broken down by enzymes into cathine and norephedrine, part of a group of chemicals...

A 30-year-old man faces charges in Maine's first trial for smuggling khat, a stimulant popular in Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, today in U.S. District Court in Portland. Differing views of the substance present a cultural divide for authorities and some members of Maine's growing immigrant communities. While the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency lists khat in the same category as cocaine or heroin, users say it is as mild as coffee, and just as harmless. On trial is Abdigani Hussein, who was arrested in April when he tried to collect 60 pounds of khat, a green leafy material, at a local...

Khat--the addictive leaf that Somali street fighters chewed in "Black Hawk Down"--is making its way to Chicago. The mild stimulant is legal in East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Europe, but in the United States it is classified as a Schedule One drug with no medical purpose, like heroin or marijuana. Seizures of the drug have doubled at U.S. ports of entry from 17 metric tons in 1996 to 37 tons in 2001. In Chicago, where the drug was virtually unheard of until several years ago, U.S. Customs investigators have made 49 seizures at O'Hare Airport since last October. The...

ABOARD USS CAPE ST. GEORGE, At sea (NNS) -- USS Cape St. George (CG 71) and USS Gonzalez (DDG 66) returned fire on a group of suspected pirates in the Indian Ocean, killing one and wounding five, approximately 25 nautical miles off the central eastern coast of Somalia in international waters at 5:40 a.m. local time, March 18. Cape St. George, a guided-missile cruiser, and Gonzalez, a guided-missile destroyer, were conducting maritime security operations in the area as part of Combined Task Force 150, a maritime coalition task force currently led by Royal Netherlands Navy Commodore Hank Ort, when they...

Associated Press SAN'A, Yemen — The writer winked conspiratorially, shifted the golf ball-sized bulge in his left cheek and tapped his temple gently. "Qat is good for the mind. I can't stop writing once I start. But the next morning I read what I wrote and tear it up straight away," chuckled 35-year-old Hatem Bamohriz, nibbling yet another leaf of the mild narcotic. To many government and aid officials, qat has ceased to be funny: Yemen's government is making another push to cut the use of the rubbery green leaf with amphetamine-like qualities that is blamed for many of this...

"Touching or kissing a kid may be something natural in Latin America. Here in the States, it can be seen as sexual abuse," said Alison Renteln, author of The Cultural Defence.Her book recounts hundred of stories of immigrants who violated US laws by practicing their own customs. "For many immigrants, living in America is a cultural balancing act," the associate professor of political science at the University of Southern California told AFP. "Touching or kissing a kid may be something natural in Latin America. Here in the States it can be seen as sexual abuse" Alison Renteln,author  "They struggle to...