Nigerian-born artist Burna Boy, 32, revealed that he turned down a $5 million supply to carry out in Dubai within the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a result of smoking hashish is banned within the metropolis, and the punishments are extreme.
Per the native regulation, trying to enter Dubai with hashish can lead to a five-year sentence, and in case you’re caught smoking weed there, you may face a minimal of three months behind bars, and also you’ll presumably be deported when you’re launched. Earlier than modifications had been made to ease and replace drug legal guidelines two years in the past, vacationers caught with weed may resist 10 years behind bars.
Doing 90 days in jail nonetheless doesn’t sound interesting, nonetheless. For people who smoke, the one technique to be totally protected is to easily keep away from journey to Dubai. That’s most likely why Burna Boy turned down the gig, as a result of he smokes just about in all places he goes and there’s no technique to conceal these quantities.
We Discuss Sound posted a video on X on Oct. 31, exhibiting the rapper freestyling and recounting his emotions about Dubai and locations that shun weed to the acute.
“Simply now I turned down Dubai cash, 5 million {dollars} na small factor ‘trigger me I no dey prefer to dey go the place dem no go gree enable me smoke igbo,”
“Igbo” is the widespread time period utilized in Nigeria to discuss with hashish, and he referred to a gig he refused to do, resulting from Dubai’s drug coverage.
Burna Boy isn’t shy about his love for the herb. When interviewed by Zane Lowe, he offered his ideas about hashish. “There isn’t a substance to it, like, no person is speaking about something, it’s simply a good time,” Burna Boy stated. “It’s an incredible time.”
He added, “However on the finish of the day, life will not be an incredible time…you’re nonetheless going to face life. So for me, I really feel like, music must be that. Music must be the essence of the artist, you perceive, the artist is an individual. Me talking for myself, the artist is an individual who has good days, unhealthy days, nice days, and worst days.”
If You Get Caught with Weed in Dubai, That is What Occurs
Dubai is residence to a few of the strictest hashish legal guidelines on earth, nonetheless the nation is loosening its harsh stance on medication over the previous few years. The brand new protocol for Dubai vacationers, in impact for under as lately as 2021, is to confiscate and destroy hashish merchandise as a substitute of imposing arduous time, however you’ll nonetheless sit in jail for 90 days.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the UAE, introduced the brand new modifications on November 27, 2021. As a part of a sequence of sweeping modifications, people who find themselves convicted of drug-related crimes might serve time in safe detention providing remedy and training as a substitute of jail time. As well as, deportation for non-citizens in drug use and possession instances is now not obligatory.
Till lately, drug possession was not tolerated in any diploma within the UAE. Carrying residual quantities of any drug—together with hashish—may land you years in jail. As little as 5 years in the past, 4 years was the minimal jail sentence for drug crimes. Excessive Occasions routinely referred to as it one of many worst international locations with a few of the “strictest weed legal guidelines.”
However the nation up to date its outdated legal guidelines. The brand new laws was outlined within the Official Gazette. The newest situation of the Official Gazette may be downloaded here. First-time offenders will obtain minimal sentences of three months as a part of a brand new method that hopes to combine “drug customers” again into society, but in addition imposing harsher punishments for serial offenders.
They even punish individuals for smoking in different international locations: After being handled in a hospital, an American was detained in Dubai in 2021 for testing constructive for cannabinoids—though he consumed it in the USA.
In a cautionary and chilling story that has drawn consideration to the United Arab Emirates’ ultra-punitive anti-drug legal guidelines, Peter Clark has discovered himself in authorized jeopardy over what seems to be an extremely unlucky sequence of occasions.
Right here’s the backstory, which comes through the web site “Detained in Dubai”, a bunch based by Radha Stirling that claims to “have helped hundreds of victims of injustice over the previous ten years”: Clark, a resident of Las Vegas, flew to Dubai on February 24 “to evaluate skilled recording studios.” There, he was rushed to the hospital for emergency remedy for pancreatitis. Whereas on the hospital, personnel performed a urine check and “discovered residue traces of hashish.”
Excessive Occasions steadily stories on excessive profile arrests, most notably individuals equivalent to Brittney Griner, which brings up huge questions on consciousness of strict drug legal guidelines in locations internationally. Do your homework and keep away from locations the place you may face worse issues than arduous time—equivalent to corporal or capital punishments.