Hi annieapple and welcome to HT!

As this is not a complaint I have moved it to our Africa and Middle East forum.

luci

Annie this is a very sensible point to bring up. The Ministry of Health of the United Arab Emirates has a list of 374 drugs that are not allowed in the country. It is a very complete list, and I am sure that there are some more that are considered dodgy by them even if not on the list. The principal offenders are what they class as psychotropic - ie likely to make you dependent ..........

Unfortunately many of these are a 'necessary evil' in the 'decadent west' as they include a lot of painkillers containing CODEINE, and ANTIDEPRESSANTS such as Seroxat, Paxil, Ativan and Valium. The very nature of these antidepressants are that you cannot decide to have a weeks' 'holiday' to coincide with the time you would be in the UAE - they need to be taken regularly, and when you decide to stop them, you need to wean them VERY gradually and over a long time.

Please check the list of drugs - it is easy to read - trade names/brand names/generic names/dosages and chemical composition.

It would be absolutely shattering to arrive having paid for an expensive holiday and be sent home again at the point of entry, and with these potentially-lifesaving drugs confiscated. And PLEASE don't think that you'll be able to get them in in your hold baggage. You won't.

You won't be sent home, you'll be locked up. There was recently a case of an elderly women travelling through Dubai with codeine pills in her hand luggage who was then locked up in prison for 6 weeks even after producing a doctors letter. Another case involved someone who had the over the counter obtainable sleep pattern pills Melatonin in her luggage who was also sent to prison. The strangest case was a swiss man who was stopped after a drug sniffer dog detected drugs on his coat, the drug turned out to be a poppy seed (illegal in Dubai) that had fallen on to his coat from a bread roll that he had eaten at the swiss airport. He was detained for some weeks.

checkout http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7234786.stm

http://www.gulfnews.com/uaessentials/residentsguide/legal_issues/10083441.html

Controlled drugs list:
http://www.gulfnews.com/images/06/11/14/controlleddrugslist.pdf

Link to the UAE Ministry of Health http://www.moh.gov.ae

Link to the UAE Embassy site http://www.uaeembassyuk.net/

I would suggest contacting the Embassy before travel to find out the current banned/approved drugs list as it is constantly updated.

luci

many thanks for everyones advice we have looked on the site recommended by luci and have found that the drugs prescribed for hubbie are on the approved list, once again thanks to all who replied anniapple

where about on this web site is the list, i have clicked on the link and there is no list there

First of all this site can take some time to load. Be patient! Secondly, go to the drop down box on the right hand side above the white square and look for Allowed Drugs List and click on it. Again, sorry, it takes time to download. If it offers you a choice between drugs in their respective therapeutic areas eg heart, chest etc and alphabetical order (which DOES have a spelling mistake, but my Arabic is not all that much better !!!), I would choose the alphabetical order listing for easy of reference. Good luck. And if you still can't access it, please ask for advice again on this thread as to how to go about it.

luci HT Mod wrote:

go to Approved Drugs List in the drop down box at the top right of the site.

luci :wave

thanks for that I have found it, interesting read

I recently came back from Dubai as my daughter lives there.
Was talking to someone involved with airport security.They have recently purchased the most up to date scanner system in the world.All bags are checked and then if you have forbidden drugs,objects etc a red light will come on as you travel through with your retrieved suitcase.Makes it easier,no need for 'stop and search' of everyone and faster system.Just need to know it is virtually impossible to get away with smuggling in prohibited items.....

All i am getting from the link iis page cannot be found, have they taken it down. surely travel agents must have copies of this. any one know if the pill was on the list?

Thanks for highlighting that davejg. It appears that the list of approved drugs is no longer available on that site so I have edited it.

I have spent ages trying to find the current information, but many of the links are giving a Page Cannot Be Displayed message.

I would suggest contacting the UAE Embassy well in advance of travel to find out the current restrictions. At the moment, the link on their site is giving a Page Cannot Be Displayed.

One of the links gives a list of prohibited drugs, but it is a very short list and I personally wouldn't trust it as I'm sure there are a considerable amount of over the counter medicines that are banned.

luci

I have had great trouble in finding an official list of drugs that are considered legal over here and ILLEGAL in the UAE.

For the timebeing, the only list I can find is on

http://www.gulfnews.com/images/06/11/14/controlleddrugslist.pdf

and you need to read it very carefully.

Hope that helps and that the UAE Embassy in London manage to get their web page back on line as soon as possible.

Thanks Alsacienne. That's the same list as I edited into my original post earlier today so it looks like that is the best that's on offer at the moment.

I think it's a great shame that the MOH for UAE have removed the list they had seeing as they are so strict about this.

luci

Looks like the rules may have changed again, if you go to the embassy link on Lucis reply you can check it out & let me know if you make anymore sense of it than I do.

That link just gives me Error Message 404 and nothing else ...........

Me too and I have run out of places to look for the information.

As I said, the best thing probably is to contact the Embassy in advance of travel for the latest information. It's such a pity they removed the link on the MOH site to the list of approve drugs.

luci

What about asthma/COPD Drugs? are these alowed???

Good morning Fiona. You will know what medicine you are taking .......... but you may need the generic name too. Use the link I posted a few messages ago (gulfnews) to see if your drugs are listed. If they are not, I would think that they would be allowed in, but you might be wise to contact the London embassy before travelling. I am not a professional in this field and cannot give you more than my personal opinion. As I said, look at the list and check with the embassy.