I don't know why I'm asking in this forum, other than there are probably some cops and lawyers here who might know the answer. (If you know the answer and you're not a cop or a lawyer, please don't feel the need to incriminate yourself ;-)

I am curious because of the recent case of a Canadian UN Narcotics Officer who was arrested in Dubai and sentenced to 4 years in prison for possession of "0.6 grams of hashish". (He was pardoned by the Emir as part of a general amnesty to mark the festival of Eid al-Adha.) Apparently hashish is sold by the gram; on the other hand, .6 grams of sugar is about 1/7 of a teaspoon, so it seems like a tiny amount.

I was reading some of the reader's comments on online news articles and I was really surprised by the number of Canadians who said things like "It's his own fault", "Who is he kidding?" "The Canadian government should have left him to rot in jail", and similar sentiments.

My opinion is that he was probably telling the truth. He was working with narcotics on a daily basis, as a UN adviser to the Afghan government. Part of his duties involved overseeing the destruction of narcotics, which in Afghanistan apparently involves building a large open bonfire and burning the stuff, so he was constantly exposed to "second-hand smoke". He also claimed that in parts of Afghanistan, small gifts of hashish were so common that it was impossible to avoid; the usual practice, according to him, was to accept it politely so as not to offend the village chief, then discreetly dispose of it at the first opportunity.

Just how big is the amount they are talking about? Is it like a couple of shreds that got caught in the lining of his pocket, or would it be about the size of a cigarette butt? A cigarette butt would be hard to miss if he was being reasonably careful; pocket lint would be almost impossible to eliminate completely, IMO.

He also was carrying two dried poppy bulbs (some stories said they were dried poppy heads) but supposedly these had zero value as narcotics; he claims he was bringing them back as props to be used in anti-drug lectures he had been asked to give. It was these bulbs which triggered a more thorough search by Dubai officials, which turned up the aforementioned "0.6 grams".

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071219.wpardon19/BNStory/National/home/

It's a minuscule amount and to think there are real criminals running around out there while the law chases down people with a little pot in their pocket makes my blood boil.

That seems like a tiny, tiny amount. Clearly he's not a drug dealer. As the fellow admits, he was a little bit sloppy, and happened to stop over in a country with a zero tolerance policy. The 'pardon' is usually a way for a third-world ruler/government to save face in a ridiculous case like this, under the guise of showing largesse. Glad he's free.

EDIT: The story I just read says "0.06 grams of hashish -- .002 ounces". If that's correct, the whole thing is a joke.
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=6e96f738-c8ff-45df-bc7a-32e5cb6811d1

that article contained information that I wasn't aware of - and I thought I had been following the story pretty closely!

I didn't realize he had been in prison for 8 months, that he had been passed over for an earlier amnesty in September, that his release cost his family tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, or that the "poppy bulbs" had been display items at the UN office - I got the impression from the CBC and Globe and Mail online articles that this had happened fairly recently, and he was released quickly due to pressure from the Canadian government. So if their coverage was that misleading, I would venture a guess that the ".06 grams" is more accurate, and pretty consistent with his story that he carefully went through his belongings to remove any traces of drugs before leaving Afghanistan. I mean, .06 grams is just pocket lint.

Okay, this guy was "caught" with tiny bit of hash in his pockets, and two poppy heads. The poppy heads were stupid, as he found out. There was no way he missed them.

Now, when he gets home and his kid drags him to school for Show & Tell, he'd dam**d better not have a steak knife in his lunch!

p.s. All the news articles except that one said it was 0.6gm of hash. One Lipton tea bag contains about 2 teaspoons of tea (which I'm assuming is something like hash), and it weighs 2.26gms, so he had about half a teaspoon of the stuff. So he didn't clean out his pockets THAT well. And he could have gotten the poppy pods at home, they're common enough.

This guy isn't criminal, he's just not very bright. Probably on par with our TSA people.

Sue

Hmmm… didn’t we just have a thread which emphasized how many “zero tolerance policies” turn into “zero intelligence policies”? I do believe we did… yes… it’s right there. I’m pointing my steak knife right at it.

May be I am missing something in the story here, how does this even remotely have anything to do with being Equipped to Survive?

Hi Aardwolfe,

Attitudes to Cannabis vary around the world. Some countries are more tolerant than others. Generally its not a good idea to have any what so ever when passing through any countries customs. Its also not a good idea to have any codeine formulations (even with a prescription) either as this is also reguarded as a controlled substance in many middle eastern countries.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/12/20/police.hash.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ghIhiymNNKw

http://www.hashmuseum.com/

Of course the answer is...a gram.