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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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170 pounds of khat seized [OH]
#5409174 - 03/16/06 04:25 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Bust nets 170 pounds of drug March 14, 2006 - toledoblade.com
Two men were arrested during a traffic stop on the Ohio Turnpike near Swanton yesterday for possessing 170 pounds of khat, a plant popular as a recreational drug used for centuries in northeastern Africa and southern Arabia.
Hussein Ahmed Mohamed, 31, of Minneapolis and Maxamed Abshar, 35, of Phoenix each face one count of possession of a drug of abuse when they appear this morning in Maumee Municipal Court, the Ohio Highway Patrol said. They were being held in the Lucas County jail.
While the patrol has arrested people for possessing personal-use quantities of the drug, "we've never had a large amount like that," Sgt. Craig Cvetan, a patrol spokesman, said yesterday.
Troopers stopped a 2006 Dodge Caravan with Mr. Mohamed at the wheel about a mile east of Airport Highway at 8:57 a.m. for following another vehicle too closely, the patrol said.
Sergeant Cvetan said the troopers had "no prior knowledge of the vehicle," but became suspicious of its occupants and obtained consent for a search. The search revealed two duffel bags and two suitcases containing the khat, whose street value the patrol estimated at $385,900.
Possession of a drug of abuse is a first-degree felony, for which the pair could face fines of up to $20,000 each and 10-year prison terms if convicted.
Khat is the common name for the leaves of the shrub catha edulis, which in the plant's native area are sold in small bunches at markets and consumed by chewing. The most active ingredient in the leaves, cathinone, is unstable and breaks down within a few days if the leaves are not kept refrigerated.
The patrol said khat is considered a hallucinogen. According to other reference sources, including a paper by Richard A. Glennon, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University who studies addictive drugs, khat is a stimulant similar in nature to ephedrine and amphetamine.
In countries where it is most common, it is consumed socially and especially by men. In the United States, clandestine labs have been discovered making methcathinone, a synthetic form of khat's active ingredient.
"It's not very prevalent in the United States, though a large bust could indicate it's becoming more prevalent in Ohio," Sergeant Cvetan said. "On the other hand, it may just have been pulling through. We don't know where they were going."
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Schwip
Never sleeps.


Registered: 06/27/05
Posts: 3,937
Last seen: 11 years, 2 months
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Re: 170 pounds of khat seized [OH] [Re: veggie]
#5409501 - 03/16/06 05:41 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Granted ive never tried fresh khat or methcathinone..... ive never heard great things about it..... nothing more than a more euphoric strong cup of expresso.........
Stupid laws..... probably racialy motivated, seeing the demographics from which this plant stems from.....
would i be out of line calling them lawmakers bigots? nah ....fucking bigots
-------------------- -------------------------------- " If the sky were to suddenly open up there would be no law. There would be no rule. There would only be you and your memories... the choices you've made, and the people you've touched. If this world were to end there would only be you and him and no-one else. " .............. "MAN! You know there aint no such thing as left over crack!"
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shroomydan
exshroomerite


Registered: 07/04/04
Posts: 4,126
Loc: In the woods
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Re: 170 pounds of khat seized [OH] [Re: Schwip]
#5409948 - 03/16/06 07:44 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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All the ethno botanical prohibition laws are nothing other than tribal Taboos crystallized in the abstraction of law.
The Israelites were not allowed to eat pork, the Inuits were not allowed to eat Orka, Americans are not allowed to eat mushrooms or Kat. It's another form of state trying to control religion.
-so many stupid people have power.
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fresh313
journeyman


Registered: 09/01/03
Posts: 2,537
Last seen: 12 years, 9 months
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Re: 170 pounds of khat seized [OH] [Re: shroomydan]
#5410508 - 03/16/06 10:29 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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khats no religion, mushrooms no religion, therye just safe drugs w/ are illegal becuase drugs are scary to society.
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