Q: Dear Sir, I am the accountant of a pharmacy in which I am also a partner. Recently, when the pharmacist went out for tea, a man came in and asked for an antibiotic. Thinking that it was an emergency, I took the medicine and gave it to him. However, he was from the ministry inspection. He took a picture of my ID card too. I may face two problems: 1. Giving a medicine without a prescription. 2. Giving medicine not being a pharmacist. What will I have to face now? Will I be imprisoned? What is the way out?

Q: I was called from Emirates Post to pick up a delivery at the Customs. As the customs opened the package, it turned out that medication was inside. I didn't order or initiate the delivery of any medication and hence should've been asked to discard the delivery as no sender was mentioned. Instead, the Customs forwarded the item to the Ministry of Health for their assessment. Now, the Ministry of Health is requesting me to meet their doctor to evaluate why I need this medication. Again, I didn't order or initiate the delivery of medication and don't need any. Kindly advise what shall I do in this matter as I am afraid that the medication could contain banned substances.

Q: Dear sir/madam, I will be traveling to the UAE on a visit visa with my family. My 3-year-old child gets seizures when he has a fever and so we need to keep two drugs with us at all times which are Clobazam and Midazolam which appears to be on the scheduled 1v of prohibited drugs list which probably means I can't bring the meds with us. However, as you can guess, we cannot go without the meds as they are anti-seizure so please advise if we can carry them with a prescription.

Q: Hello, I have a question regarding the situation I am in. The court ordered the bank to have my account frozen as I am suspected of having used my funds to purchase prohibited substances (medications). The final judgment isn't due. Will I be able to open a new account? or a new business account? My current business accounts are operating without any freeze or issue. Would like to know to what extent I am banned from financing in the UAE. Is the current freeze only on this one personal account? Or is it on me personally not allowing me to issue or operate anything until the judgment is final? Also, for the frozen sum in the bank account, is there any chance that it will not be released? I am not accused of reselling or selling or of any financial or illegal money activities. I am accused of personal use of a prohibited medical substance and of purchasing the prohibited substance for personal use.

Q: My brother is in jail because he shared the medicine with someone and he didn't know it was banned in the UAE. Someone told him to bring it from his home country because medicine is expensive here. He gives it to someone by hand and he doesn't know about it. He doesn't use or sell. He is in jail for 2 months. His case is still under investigation. How much time for the judgment? He told me he has a case of Tarweej (promoting) in Arabic. I don't know about this case and what punishment he will get. Can he go out on bail? Any deposit for bail? Please guide me.

Q: Dear Sir/Madam, As a tourist visiting the UAE for travel and tourism purposes for only 4 days, am I allowed to carry my HIV medication? After the UAE, I will be traveling to India for 20 days, so I will have medication for a total of 26 days with me when I enter the UAE. How can I travel and enter?

Q: A pharmacy gave me the wrong set of medicine that was not prescribed by my doctor. Can I file a complaint?

An interview-format article covering the topic of drug use and rehabilitation in the UAE. This is from the legal podcast of lawyer Ludmila Yamalova, the founder of Lawgical with LYLAW.