Two-month prison ordeal ends for woman who took painkiller

[emad]

By Terri Judd
09 May 2005


A British woman threatened with up to four years in a Dubai jail for having traces of painkiller in her system has been acquitted.

Tracy Wilkinson, who spent two months in "unbearable conditions" in custody, is hoping she will be free to leave the country as early as today.

The 44-year-old sports osteopath from Balcombe in West Sussex was arrested in March as she boarded a flight home because of an irregularity in her passport.

Traces of the painkiller codeine and the sedative temazepam were found in a urine sample. While codeine is common in over-the-counter medicines such as Nurofen Plus, it is forbidden in the UAE. The presence of illegal drugs in the body amounts to possession under the country's strict drug laws. A hearing in the emirate yesterday, however, heard that Mrs Wilkinson had been acquitted of all charges.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=636839

THIS ONCE happened to me when I bought codeine in a pharmacy in Sharjah (next door emirate to Dubai) and then got searched at the airport going home. Didn't end up in the slammer like Wilkinson, but I missed three flights home while they sorted out the mess....

[sniffa]

1. you have to pee in a cup to enter their country?

and why the fuck do we caLL these countries our friends and aLLies?

[AnneD]

7. Well.....

they serve alchol on United Air Emerait Airlines....and in the tourist hotels and alchol is forbidden. I'd have never gone into the country without a stiff drink. I'd have been in trouble either way. My fav tourist souviner, a British edition ( more skin than the Amer. edition) of Glamour magazine that was edited with a Marks-alot (no joke). I was in Dubai, the Moslem Rivera (ie relaxed by SA standards). I can't say enough about the place, I really liked it...but it was definantly quirky.

[mike_c]

2. notwithstanding the ordeal this poor woman went through...

...it really wasn't very smart to travel to a country without being aware of it's laws-- especially those laws that conflict with things that we take for granted here. The issue of whether Dubai's drug laws are proper, or whether Ms. Wilkinson was treated badly are kind of separate, IMO. I know many won't agree with me, but I think it's the traveler's responsibility to know the laws of countries they visit, and not go there, or expect to be prosecuted, if they cannot abide by them.

[Demit]

4. True that. When friends told me they couldn't bring chewing gum into

Singapore years ago, I thought they were joking. However, it proved that they were smart to do exactly what you suggest. Ignorance of the law, and all that.

[AnneD]

11. FYI

always check the State Departments web site before you travel. It is a wealth of info (violence threats to tourists, shot required, laws, some customs etc). Lack of minimal knowledge of customs is what gets you in trouble. The rest of the world is not like the US, the rules (laws) are different, proceed with caution...

[Misunderestimator]

9. That's a lot of laws to read.

Unfortunately, one of the many reasons I will probably never visit my sister in the middle east... I have no interest in abiding even temporarily by their laws.

[mike_c]

15. well really, most traveler's info highlights the most relevant differences

...so you don't really need to read all the laws. Guide books often have a chapter devoted to the legal (and cultural) pitfalls most likely to cause problems. I hear you about visiting the middle east.

[genieroze]

3. Good grief, I thought we had tough drugs laws. eom

[oneold1-4u]

5. Just next door!

Mexico has some strict laws that so many US take for granted here: Drunk driving has a few punishments here but drunk in public in Mexico can get one behind locked doors, and any court action, for the least broken law, can take many months.
If there were some actions, here, like that, for drugs and alcohol, the use would drop rapidly. Those types of law infractions should be the last to come on the court dockets. Let them take a rest from their drug abuse and a few might consider next time.

[saigon68]

6. I'm glad they don't enforce that in Cancun

A lot of college students would be in trouble.

[jukes]

10. not true

time & again, it's been proven that punishments do NOT=deterrent.

also, you seem to have missed that the crux of this statement negates the right to speedy trial guaranteed by the constitution. placing the punishment BEFORE the conviction is absolutely unAmerican.

further, infractions of this type are most frequently governed by individual addiction, which defies all logic in seeking it's own fulfillment; hence, an excessive incarceration prior to addressing the underlying problem is not only inhumane, it will fuel the craving.

decriminalization except for reckless endangerment resulting from drug/alcohol usage and forced rehab instead of medieval lock-down is the only POSSIBLE route to a lessening of occurrences; there is NO absolute solution to the problem w/ available technology.

our prisons are already crammed to bursting trying to punish marijuana users into compliance, while the use of 2 most dangerous and addictive substances on the planet are not only condoned but encouraged.

[dArKeR]

8. Just to keep Ameircan alcohol companies in profits are the reason

we and we make our puppet governments make these laws. Why don't politicians have to take drugs test for employment?

[Mythsaje]

13. That's easy

Because they decided that it was an unreasonable violation of their privacy.

Isn't THAT a kicker?

[zanne]

12. No wonder Rush Limbaugh is such a rabid patriot!

Well, nobody had said it yet, so I just had to!

[truthisfreedom]

14. send him there. now.