Or the correct answer is...enough to get you thrown in to a really nasty jail for a really long time in the wrong country...

1 gram is about 1/454th of a pound, or 1/1000th of a kilogram.

He is the poster boy for the "Don't let this happen to you" narcotics crowd now I reckon.

Kinda brings to mind the movie Midnight Express...

True, but on the other hand, he obviously knew they were there and made no attempt to hide them; they were several years old, they were dead, dried, and if I understand correctly, they contained less opium than a poppy seed bagel. They had been display items at the UN office where he worked and he asked if he could have them when he was leaving the country. I think his biggest mistake was assuming that customs officers in *any* country would have the brains they were born with. (Apologies to any customs officials reading this post.)

One thing that I find conspicuously missing from any of the news reports is how the hashish was being "carried". A tiny amount, wrapped in tin foil, would be suspicious no matter how small; if it was a couple of shreds trapped in the lining of his coat pocket, plus a couple more shreds trapped in the lint in his pants pocket, plus some that had soaked into his pant leg - well, that would be pretty easy to miss even if you were taking reasonable (but not obsessive) precautions.

The fact that most of the news articles describe it as "0.6" and not ".06" doesn't impress me that much - most of them are probably copying from each other, anyway, and I doubt many journalists today have the math skills to realize the difference. (Apologies to any journalists reading this post, as well.) One CTV article used the 0.6 number, which they then described as a "microscopic" amount. So it's obvious they got one of their facts wrong.

(I was going to insert a comment here about the recent UK Guardian article about the acquittal of suspected IRA bomber Sean Hoey, after an expert witness made the startling admission that "molecules used in LCN DNA (low copy number DNA tests) were the size of a millionth of a grain of salt" - something which shouldn't be news, let alone surprising, to anyone who stayed awake in high school biology. But I digress.)

I suspect that, from now on, many UN narcotics experts who have to travel through Dubai on their way home will buy a brand-new set of clothes for the trip home, keep them in plastic until it's time to leave for the airport, and donate everything else to the locals. Hopefully, the UN will be prepared to re-imburse them ...

It may be a stretch, but staying out of a Dubai prison because some overzealous customs official finds microscopic traces of cocaine on a US dollar that I got in my change from a souvenir that I bought on my last trip to Disney World three years ago counts as "survival" in my book. ;-)

Well, travelling abroad you rolls the dice and takes your chances. If'n someone wants to make an example out of you to boost their own ego or image, then it is going to happen and you are going to pay the price. Even if you are clean initially, they can plant something and you will be busted. You really are at the mercy of those who owe you nothing.

Another good reason for staying in the good old USofA...

Not to start a war, OBG, but there was that incident some years back of the pregnant woman who had her car confiscated at the US border after a customs officer decided that cigarette papers constituted "drug-related paraphernalia"

We in North America are far from immune to overzealous public officials with more power than brainpower.

For sure. Over the years, 'specially after they started the profiling and drug interdiction traffic stops, more than one horror story came up, usually about someones grandma who just bought a used car, got stopped for whatever reason, the drug doggie took a whif, a hidden compartment (empty, which was undoubtedly put in by the prior owner) was found, and off went the car forever. But even if granny went to jail, it would not be for 30 years, and US prisons are reportedly MUCH better than the ones in, say, Turkey...

Hash wrapped in tin foil...
That sounds like he knew what he was up too even if it was for a keep sake.
0.6 Gr of Hashish is nothing, it is about the size of a pencil eraser (how do I know? 100+ Grateful Dead concerts....).

Drug laws are stupid IMO and especially in the case of marijuana and hash (which is basically distilled pot).

In this case I am glad I live in USA/ California.

And what the hell is a UN narcotics force? That sounds like some sort of global police. I never want the UN telling me what to do. The UN has some plans to try and globally outlaw my 2nd Amendment rights. UN....yeh.
Bill