Naeem's Blog

Here is a funny story about Bert Tatham, a young Canadian UN official sentenced to four years in Dubai for drug possession. He was caught with 0.6 grams (0.02 ounces) of hashish and two poppy bulbs (used to make opium).

Nothing out of the ordinary, except until you realize that he worked as an adviser to the Afghan government's poppy elimination program.

In all fairness to the man, I don't see what the big deal is. He was simply doing his part to rid the country of its drug problem - one joint at a time.

The story gets even more hilarious.

The man's father comes to his son's defense by attacking the malicious media for distorting the facts:

Tatham said his son told him he was "devastated" by inaccurate media reports that his job was to eradicate the drug, when his work actually involved promoting alternatives to poppy cultivation among farmers.

Yeah, get that right people! He wasn't supposed to get *rid* of Afghani poppy seeds and their opium derivative, his job was 'promoting alternatives'...like weed.

And what about the hashish found on his person? His dear mother explains:

The hashish piece found in the seam of his trousers was "the size of your teenie fingernail," she said, adding that the drug was prevalent in Kandahar. "People were giving it to him at various places — at meetings."

It was the size of your little pinky fingernail! C'mon give him a break...people were like just giving it away at the local market. For all we know, he could have innocently taken the samples not knowing they were drugs. Its not like he was some sort of drug expert or anything.

Actually, his lawyer gives a more plausible explanation:

"His trousers must have mistakenly picked up the tiny quantity of hashish," al-Gailani said.

You see, now that makes *total* sense. What were we thinking?! If anything, sentence his trousers to 4 years.

Its all been a big misunderstanding. The man is clearly innocent. I mean, its not like he used the drugs or anything, right? Well besides his urine sample, which showed traces of hashish. But there's a reasonable explanation for that as well:

Traces of hashish found in Tatham's urine were inhaled as "second-hand smoke," Tatham's lawyer said.

For God's sake people, it was all around him! Can't we be practical and a bit more understanding? It's not like he could hold his breath the whole time he was hanging out at the corner crackhouse!