From: backpack@access.digex.com (Stuart Reges)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs,talk.politics.drugs
Subject: Washington Post on Qat
Date: 17 Dec 1992 19:03:03 GMT
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, Maryland USA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.com

Aldis Ozols posted a message to alt.drugs with a Reuter's story dated December
14th about how the qat trade had been restored in Somalia.  That story is in
direct contradiction to one that appeared in the Washington Post the same day.
The Post story is dated December 13th, so perhaps the Reuter's story is more
up-to-date.  If true, then this represents a big policy shift from what is
described in the Post article.

I think the most interesting thing about the Post article is the way it's
written.  Compare it to the Reuter's piece and you'll see what I mean.  It's
clear that the author of this article is antidrugs.  He doesn't even bother to
point out the inconsistencies in his own copy.  For example, he implies at one
point that qat has prolonged the civil war because gunmen stay up all night
under its influence, but he ends by talking about how the U.S.  military is
going to take advantage of the fact that the qat-crazed gunmen are "bummed out"
and therefore vulnerable at night.  This is also just a very bad story from a
journalistic point of view.  "It is said"?  What kind of citation is that?  And
why is it that anyone who does something that a journalist thinks is morally
reprehensible is suddenly an "admitted" such-and-such (an "admitted
homosexual," an "admitted cocaine user," etc.).

I can imagine a Cuban propagandist coming to New York City and writing, "It is
said that America's race problems are caused by capitalism.  Jeff Smith, an
admitted supporter of capitalism, said, 'I think Cuba should worry about it's
own problems rather than trying to solve ours.'  John Doe, an unemployed black
man said that capitalism made him think he could do anything.  'Now I'm
homeless and I hate the white man,' he said dully."  This is second-rate
journalism, and I'm highly disappointed that it came from a Washington Post
foreign service correspondent.

See for yourself if you think my parody is off base:


			    On the Lookout for Qat
		  Marines Guard Against Somali's Favored Drug
			     By Keith B. Richburg

MOGADISHU, Somalia, Dec. 13--The daily ritual begins just after lunch.  Young
Somali men, and a few old ones, make their way to vendor stalls at markets with
names like "Black Sea," where for 20,000 Somali shillings--less than $5--they
purchase a small bundle of green leaves and stems tightly bound in white paper
or a rubber band.  It is usually enough for one evening's high.

The drug is called qat (pronounced "cat" in Somalia), and is widely popular
across the Horn of Africa and parts of the Middle East.  Qat is said to have
fueled much of Somalia's violence of the last two years, as teenage militiamen
chewed the drug late into the evening and stayed awake all night to pound each
other's positions with recoilless rifles and field artillery guns until passing
out at dawn.

Now, with American military forces patrolling large sections of Mogadishu--and
with the U.S. troops controlling the port area, the international airport and
the streets around the old American Embassy compound--a clash of cultures is in
the offing between the Somalis and those who came here to rescue them from
starvation and armed gangs.  For many Somalis, qat is a way of life; for the
U.S. military, it is an illicit drug subject to seizure.

Col. Fred Peck, Marine spokesman for Operation Restore Hope, said U.S. military
authorities, after receiving legal assurances from experts, consider qat
"contraband and illicit."  "We're not the DEA for Somalia," Peck said,
referring to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.  But he added, "Wherever
we establish control, we're not going to allow traffic in any drug we consider
illicit."

"If we see drugs, we will seize it and we have seized some already," Peck told
reporters hours after Marines landed here Wednesday.  "We have taken it off
people at the airport and downtown."  It is not clear if the seizures of qat
have continued.

The Americans also restricted airspace over Somalia on the first day of the
intervention.  Thus, the daily charter flights bringing in fresh qat from
neighboring Kenya could not land.  This led to angry scenes at the qat market
and fears among Somali qat users that the American troops were deliberately
trying to disrupt the qat trade.

Peck said the American military presence in Somalia was bound to have some
impact on qat trafficking, if only because the scores of incoming U.S. planes
ferrying troops and supplies were clogging the airspace, while the aggressive
weapons searches at U.S. checkpoints might deter qat traffickers who feel the
need for armed escorts of their merchandise.  He said U.S. troops here were not
actively searching for qat, but "if a planeload lands at the airport, it's not
going any further."

But for many Somalis, and particularly the many regular qat users here, any
interference with the qat trade is likely to cause an anti-American backlash
that could dissipate the general goodwill the U.S. forces seem to enjoy here.
If you want to make a Somali angry, it is said here, take away his qat.

"The Americans came here to help us," said Mohamed M. Ali, a medical doctor at
Mogadishu's Digfer Hospital, and an admitted, occasional qat user himself.
"They haven't invaded us to change our way of life.  Their main interest is
relief distribution, not to act as policemen saying you can't do this or that.
They cannot interfere with our culture and our way of life."

Abdukadr Mahmoud Farah, an unemployed 22-year-old said he first started chewing
qat when he was 15 and now chews one packet, called a "madoof" in Somali, five
or six days each week.  "Now my brain has become nothing," he said dully.

"The reason is not to think of this place," Farah said.  "When I use it, I get
happy.  I can do everything.  I do not get tired.  I don't think--what can I
say?  I think only about good things.  But I can't sleep at night when I use
the qat. . . .  When you eat qat, you will think you are in the high life.  You
will not think you are jobless.  You are out of every problem."

Qat is the fresh and tender leaves and twigs of the Catha edulis plant, or
"flower of paradise."  It is pharmacologically related o amphetamines.  Qat is
chewed--and bitter to the taste.  First-time users are advised to try qat along
with extra-sweet Somali tea to kill the taste.  Qat-chewing sessions can last
several hours.  Ali said studies show that prolonged qat use causes a
psychological, although not a physical, dependence.  "You feel like you need
something, but you're not going to kill your mother if you don't get it," he
said.

Besides addiction, the drug has few proven side effects.  Some people may get
headaches from prolonged qat chewing.  The drug is said to be dangerous for
people already suffering from hypertension or other diseases.  Other side
effects range from depression in some users, to loquaciousness in others.  When
the qat wears off the user often finds himself groggy and moody from a night of
lost sleep.

Ali said that it is untrue that Somalia's notorious gunmen are all qat-crazed,
since qat "does not make you crazy.  You do not want to kill."

American soldiers hoping to break the power of Mogadishu's gunmen have found
Somalia's qat-chewing habits a key factor in military planning.

Before the first Marines landed here, Col. Greg Newbold, a U.S. commander, said
in a briefing, "I'm worried about a young Somali who has been chewing qat all
evening and wants to test U.S. forces."

"We like to work at night because we see better than they do," said Peck, the
Marine spokesman, alluding to the American's use of night-vision equipment.
"And also we know from their drug habits that they are bummed out and hung over
then."

He added, "This is probably the only campaign that takes account of the drug
habits of its potential adversaries."

Newsgroups: alt.drugs,talk.politics.drugs,talk.politics.misc