The War on Minorities

Quiz: What the most second most commonly seized "illegal" drug in pounds in the US?

From the VillageVoice:

Later, I find that over the past year khat (pronounced "kot") was second only to marijuana in total pounds seized by U.S. Customs agents nationwide—more than double that of cocaine, and 28 times more than methamphetamine.

Even a New York DEA official admits:

There's no real related spin-off crime (burglaries, robberies, shootings); it's traded and consumed in private, not out on the street; and there's no proof it has spread beyond the small Somali and Yemeni communities scattered throughout the United States.

So what are tax payer dollars being wasted?

"We've had so many funny, funny cases," says Moore, set to be the lead prosecutor in the Operation Somali Express case next summer in New York. "It's been like Keystone Kops ever since 9-11. . . . For some reason when these local police forces encounter anyone named Mohamed they're going to consider him a terrorist until proven otherwise." His comment brings to mind the case against the tall, lanky, bearded Somali wedding singer who looked so much like Osama bin Laden, his musician friends took to calling him that. A hotel clerk heard "Osama" and saw the resemblance.