Top court accepts convict's plea, will review drug abuse case

A man who was convicted of consuming drugs will have his case reviewed by judges and might have his four-year-jail term reduced or replaced by fines in line with the amended anti-drugs law.

The Federal Supreme Court supported the appeal by the Arab man against his jail sentence for using and possession of anaesthetic and psychotropic drugs. Prosecutors had charged the man with possession and consuming anaesthetic and psychotropic drugs.

Both the Court of First Instance and the Appeals Court had sentenced him to four years in jail. He was also ordered to be deported after serving his jail sentence.

The man, however, challenged the sentences to the UAE's top court requesting for a lighter sentence. The Supreme Federal Court said in its ruling that the Appeals Court should look into the man's case again and to review the sentence of the convicted man in line with the new amendments to the law which gives a lighter sentence to the first-time abusers.

Under the changes to the Anti-narcotics Law issued in 2016, the use of illegal drugs was downgraded to a misdemeanour and options other than jail were provided for first-time offenders.

The minimum four-year jail sentence was reduced to two, and the attorney general has the power to send an offender for treatment without the case going to court, after advice from police and prosecutions.

Options for first-time offenders include sending them to a rehabilitation centre, a maximum fine of Dh10,000, or community service.

Source: Khaleej Times