DUBAI // A British woman, 25, has been sentenced to jail for four years for using cannabis, despite her father’s claim that she took it for medical reasons.
The father told the Dubai Criminal Court that the drugs were prescribed to this daughter in London to alleviate symptoms of illnesses.
Police were tipped off that the defendant, S S, was using drugs so arrested her at her apartment on the Palm Jumeirah on February 23 of this year.
No drugs were found at her home but a later urine test confirmed she had used cannabis.
Her father told the court: “My daughter has been suffering from multiple and complicated disorders and the medical committee met her for only 20 minutes.
“They summed up a 10-year-long history of illness in 20 minutes and that can’t be possible.
“I would request the court to assign a specialist to look into my daughter’s condition as she had been prescribed the medicinal cannabis by a doctor in London in order to take her off the chemical medications that she had been taking for years.”
S S will be deported after finishing her jail term.
The verdict remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
salamir@thenational.ae
