Any sympathy for the British drug mule in Georgia?

[mids2019]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14723481/drug-mule-suspect-company-director-Chinese-retailers-Amazon.html

I was reading about this girl and actually do have a little symapthy. She is obviously vain, stupid, misguidedly ambitious but I don't know whether she is real player in the drug trade and has probably been groomed into carrying drugs by men promising her the earth.

The penalties for drug smuggling are understandably harsh on Georgia but should the UK try and get her to serve a sentence in the UK?

I think that's what the 'little girl' look she went for in court is supposed to make you think. You'd be better taking a look at her social media and the blatant pre-meditated nature of this criminal behaviour. It doesn't even look like the same person.

Exactly

Become a nurse? Nurses get the sack for driving over the alcohol limit, let alone smuggling drugs.
I certainly wouldn't give her the keys to the drugs cupboard.
Bad enough having Doctors with convictions.

I remember flying to Brunei, and there was a very clear warning: "the penalty for drugs smuggling is death".
These countries make it crystal clear.

Smoking a spliff does not equate in my opinion to criminality that leads to extremely harsh sentences. We have many artists for young people from Stormzy to Chalie XCX celebrating drug culture so should we limit celebratory endorsement of drugs as drug taking is not edgy or cool and those involved in their sale face very harsh penalties?

It seems like this young woman was caught up in a fantasy and just was blinded to the criminality. I guess if you smoke weed yourself and it does no manifest harm to your self then you may view sale of the drug as simply a commercial operation...I don't know.

Personally I think she should serve a sentence in the UK which is proportionate and allows for redemption and rehabilitation which is part of the purpose of prison.

Brunei imprison gay people. When a foreign country criminalizes or disproportionately criminalizes activity we view in a different way to the UK I think we do have an issue of international law to contend with.

You're missing the point. She didn't commit the crime in the UK. She is subject to Georgia's jurisdiction. She knew it was a commercial operation all right, an illegal one.

I don't disagree with any of that, and I'm certainly not someone who thinks British travellers should not be subject to local laws. I just don't really understand the online fury about this particular case tbh. And, yes, her age does mean I have a certain amount of sympathy for her- 18 is an adult, but only barely so.

Exactly. But I bet she'll cry about human rights and get out of it by being sent to the UK and get community service.

Personally I think she should serve a sentence in the UK which is proportionate and allows for redemption and rehabilitation which is part of the purpose of prison.

Would you say that about a foreign national breaking the law in the UK?

People should follow the laws of the country that they travel to and expect to be punished by local laws if they break the rules.

It is disrespectful to other countries to say that UK laws and attitudes should change the punishment that a Brit abroad faces. I personally think that we are too soft on drugs but it’s too expensive to be hardline plus the people in power will be taking drugs too so laws here will only get more relaxed over time.

“Only cannabis” is easy to say when you disregard the teenagers getting hooked on substances that are contributing to violent behaviour and mental health issues. Marijuana has become much stronger over the years and the effects will be stronger and longer lasting. It’s fuelled problems like County Lines grooming gangs which makes it impossible to think that marijuana isn’t a big deal. It creates misery from where I’m standing.

Or just plain greedy.

Yes, she'll garner sympathy and have the Foreign Office running round. She'll play on her naivety and age ("barely an adult" seems to be the mantra on here) and will rely on people diminishing her crime, as they have on here.

Ironically, cannabis is actually legal in Georgia and is cultivated there, which makes smuggling it into the country even more stupid. It sounds like she was living in a fantasy world of being a gangster.

But she didn’t commit a crime in the U.K.,therefore she is not subject to our laws.

I know exactly what happens in Brunei. Why are you telling me what happens to gay people?
Perhaps foreign countries think our laws are not right. It wouldn't give a criminal reason to break them.
You misunderstood my original point, however. Before you travel to Brunei it is clear that there is a death penalty for drugs smuggling.

People don't seem to understand this.

Lol. Only if you have parties willing to implement it. No matter how unjust and unfair you may think a country’s law is, it’s a good idea not go to said country any flout it.

Having harsher sentences than the UK does not mean that Georgia is in violation of international law.

Exactly and also it’s a weak comparison because smuggling large quantities of weed would be illegal here too even if the punishment wouldn’t be as harsh. What do people not get about that? It’s not like it’s legal here and she got confused about a foreign countries rules.

I felt sorry for the 18 year old Londoner who was jailed for sleeping with a 17 year old in Dubai because that clearly would’ve been legal in the UK and it just seemed like a young holiday romance with no ill intent from either side, and tbh it’s very possible neither realised it was illegal - but that’s very different to smuggling drugs which is harmful in and of itself and well known to be illegal.

There is nowhere on Earth where carrying 14 kg of hash/weed/whatever drug through customs is going to get you anything other than a pretty hefty prison sentence if caught. She (as others have said) is very lucky she wasn't stopped in Thailand.

I have a friend who has a son who went from being an A student and sportsman to a psychotic, imprisoned wreck thanks to cannabis. It isn't what it was in eg the 60s and the potential effect on developing minds is devastating. He's a young black man though so imagine there would be a lot less understanding.

That's tragic, @Uricon2 . I've read similar stories, especially of people developing life long paranoia, anger problems and even schizophrenia. It's not harmless.

They better not! They didn’t bother helping that young man locked up in Dubai for having sex with a 17 year old girl 3 months younger than him.

I agree!

Zero sympathy. She's obviously thick as mince, and if she gets life imprisonment at least she's been removed from the gene pool.

No one in this country gets a hash sentence for smoking weed and it can affect others.
How many working hours are lost because someone is still under the influence from the night before?
I've known people sent home from a commercial kitchen due the zombie state they were in. Lots of jobs are dangerous if not on the ball.

And whilst I am not gay, I have many friends who are. So I wouldn't suggest that they go to Brunei, and if they wished to do so for some reason I would be suggesting seperate rooms and temporary celibacy. International law has absolutely nothing to do with this - countries are sovereign entities and with few exceptions they determine their own laws. As is right and proper. I wouldn't want the UAE having sovereignty or even a say in our laws. I may not agree with their laws, but that's tough - it's up to them to make laws for themselves.

And the UK is not in a position to start talking about international laws since it has been playing fast and loose with international law for some years now, and continues to suggest that it may do so. Glass houses and stones?