The Trouble with Drugs Overseas

Every country has different laws and punishment in relation to drugs.  So it’s important to consider that the risks you might take at home like taking illicit substances may be much greater overseas.

Who was Michelle Lesley? She was most famous for being a pretty girl caught with an E in Bali.  But what about the hundreds of others not as good looking we don’t hear about? At any one time there are many Aussies in jail worldwide for taking or possessing what might have been just a small amount of drugs.  What’s a slap on the wrist at home might end up as serious time in a hellhole prison.

Aside from minor possession charges we all know about Schapelle Corby and the Bali Nine, who have caused themselves well publicised drama for trafficking drugs into Indonesia (including the looming death penalty for Scott Rush, just 19).   Or remember Nguyen Tuong Van, an Australian executed in Singapore in 2005 for drugs charges? (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4487366.stm).

These cases show how seriously overseas authorities take illegal substances. Indonesia is not alone in a hard line approach to drugs, Thailand, Singapore, much of South East Asia, Latin America and Northern Africa all have the strange mix of easy access to drugs coupled with huge consequences for being caught with them.

There are stories which come out of South East Asia as well as Latin America which suggest that sometimes tourists are targeted or set up by police for drugs offenses. Although this has happened there are very clear and easy ways of preventing anything like this happening to you:

Be aware of the consequences of being around, possessing illegal substances

Be aware of what those around you are doing as you may be implicated by association

Refuse to carry bags or luggage for anyone you do not know

Stay well clear when a puff on a joint might land you in a Bali prison for seven years!

While many people enduldge with drugs overseas and get away with it the consequences in some countries are just not worth the risk.  Even in the USA a drug charge might see you never returning…just think hard before you do it.

Obviously strapping heroin to your body in a country that has the death penalty  is something that only those who have done it would be able to try and justify.

Some countries do not have a nationwide rehabilitation center referral service, particularly those whose harsh drug laws render such services unnecessary.

Back to on the road

Back to travel advice