Passive drug smokers could also face jail in Dubai

A person who inhales hashish or marijuana while sitting with drug smoking friends could also be sentenced to four years in prison if a blood test reveals traces of the drug in his blood.

If more than 50 nanograms of a drug is found in the urine, that means the person has been tested positive and can be accused of abusing narcotic substances.

A passive smoker who gets addicted to drugs accidentally will also be sentenced, like an actual abuser, to four years in prison.

Many visitors and residents do not know that the UAE’s anti-drug laws are very tough on drug abusers, promoters and traffickers. Both drug abusers and those found in possession of drug often get four years in prison. Traffickers can be sentenced to life imprisonment (25 years).

A 22-year-old French businesswoman was sentenced to four years in jail for cannabis abuse and because five hashish cigarettes were found in her possession.

Because the UAE’s anti-drug laws are strict, Judge Hamad Abdul Latif did not condone her though her lawyer argued that she was unaware of the country’s drug laws.

In another case, an Italian national was arrested in his hotel room when he was smoking hashish.

Nasser Al Ansari, an expert at the poison centre of the Criminal Evidence Department of Dubai Police, said 50 nanograms in the standard in all developed countries. This standard has also been chosen because the law is keen not to jail innocent passive smokers of drugs.

Judge Mustafa Al Shinawi, head of Dubai’s Criminal Court of Appeal, said "it matters whether the passive smoker was in a large room or a small car and how many hashish smokers were present.”

However, the most important evidence is the medical report.

Judge Al Shinawi said defendants sometimes claim they are only passive smokers, not drug users but they sometimes test positive during the medical test. He advised people to avoid accusation of drug abuse by not sitting with friends who are drug smokers.

Major Hassan Ayoub of the anti-narcotics department of Dubai Police said the police do not differentiate between active and passive drug users. All present at the place of drug abuse are arrested. He said the medical report can test a person positive or negative for drug abuse with 95 per cent accuracy.

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