<p>(so wash everything like three times before you go- I could have stepped on a joint during my morning walk after the teenage party last night)</p>
<p>Fair Trials International said arrests were being made over tiny quantities of drugs and over-the-counter medicines.</p>
<p>British tourist Keith Brown was sentenced to four years in prison after Dubai customs officers found a 0.003g trace of cannabis stuck to his shoe.</p>
<p>Fair Trials, a legal charity, said it has seen a steep rise in such cases.</p>
<p>Golden beaches</p>
<p>Possession of painkillers like codeine and some cold and flu medication could result in a mandatory four-year prison sentence, Fair Trials International said.</p>
<p>In one of the most extreme cases, it reported a man being held after poppy seeds from a bread roll were found on his clothes.</p>
<p>My sister lived in the UAE for several years. It was then at least a very liberal Islamic state, very accepting of people from other cultures. Travellers to the US–beware–we are losing our civil liberties here.</p>
<p>When people send their high school kids off on these summer “adventure” trips, to Thailand or Tibet or Timbuktu, most of them do not realize that if their kids are arrested, for whatever reason, it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get them out. A lawyer friend of mine told me that there are certain places that she would never allow her children to go for this reason. No second chances, no American legal system with fair trial, due process, and the like.</p>
<p>There really is a lot to like about the UAE. They are encouraging/ insisting (the last I heard) that the girls be educated–sending social workers door to door. This is NOT Saudi–unless it’s changed in the last few years. Yes, the women are covered up, but so are the men. There was nothing yucky about this country when we visited. Or at least, much less than is yucky about ours.</p>
<p>OMG–is that the knocking of the thought police at our door? Arggh!!!</p>
<p>CGM</p>
<p>I’m not trying to be offensive, but our own goverment is holding people without due process and torturing them and denying it is torture. Waterboarding?–Bring it on. Mission accomplished.</p>
<p>A business owner and upstanding citizen in my town, a Mexican national, was held at the border for months after visiting family in Mexico. As he was a not an American citizen, he had no rights, to bail, fair trial, defined charges, etc. Our congress people and senator had to intervene on his behalf. His crime, years ago? Dogs identifying a little cocaine on the floor mats of a car he was riding in. No drugs on his person.</p>
<p>It happens here too. </p>
<p>I just spoke to my son in Bangkok. He was fine, as were the family who’ve lived there for many years. I have a friend who lives in Dubai, another who used it to as an escape from a difficult overseas assignment on occasion. Dubai is a fascinating place, an amalgam of all sorts of cultures. I’d love to visit, though too glitzy a place for the likes of me, for the most part. </p>
<p>My entire life is part of the corporate grid, as much as I’d love avoid it. There are small degrees of difference between here and there. Living a life on the right side of the law, and watching errant statements in certain situations is recommended no matter where you are.</p>
<p>DH goes to Dubai very often. He has been flying between Dubai and Oman frequently, never a problem. Even when he had antibiotics and painkillers on him. No questions asked.
He actually liked the medical service there. MD showed up in the middle of the night at his hotel room. Twice. Can you imagine that here???</p>
<p>I have not been to Dubai but know several people who have lived or are living there with their jobs. They love it.</p>
<p>My initial reaction to the article was that people would have to be very stupid to travel anywhere with illegal drugs. I have to admit the problems with legally prescribed drugs is startling.</p>