to hope the Foreign Office don't waste any time on Laura Plummer...

[PiffleandWiffle]

She was stupid enough to smuggle drugs into a country against their laws, got caught & got sentenced.

BBC Link

Cue the predictable wailing & cries of "it's not fair" from the family!

Personally, I'd rather the Foreign Office spent it's time trying to help people who are genuinely in trouble abroad rather than idiots drug smugglers....

It's the kind of idiocy and ignorance displayed by LP and her family that will inevitably be lapped up by TV commissioners. She deserved to be caught and punished, and WTF was she thinking when she continued her holiday romance with someone already (legally) married? Does she and her family think we're all stupid or what?

I do think the crime she's committed isn't proportionate to where she is now, though. Maybe she can be transferred to Qanater women’s prison, where it's supposed to be a bit more comfortable.

Piggy it very much is used to get high in uk too. I live in an area with major addiction issues and am prescribed this drug, I could easily get £30-40 per 50mg tablet if I wanted to. But having seen the destruction addiction causes I would never contemplate it. Plus I wouldn't put myself in that position legally.

Anyone with half an ounce of common sense should know you don't give prescription medication to ANYONE who the prescription isn't for. It's illegal, potentially dangerous and frankly stupid.

Tramadol is most definitely used as a high in the UK! I think it's naive to presume otherwise, it is often used by heroin addicts.

Seems a minority on here have very little concern for the damage and destruction caused by the ripples from smuggling banned substances.

She has been sentenced for her crime according to the law of the land where she committed the offence. End of.

If people want to shed tears and hand wring, save it for those whose lives are blighted by the knock on effects of drug dealing.
Or for those who suffer miscarriages
Of justice. Not criminals.

I am sure it is abused, like and prescription med here, but the NHS website does not list it as a particular concern. And if I has some tramadol and DH was in huge pain I'd give it to him. Not 300 mind!

To be fair babbity much of what happened at the trial would be regarded at the very least as a mistrial here.

DISCLAIMER : DH was for illustrative purposes. He may not be allowed with his warfarin.

Tramadol is extremely addictive. Its also a very good painkiller. My friend just died of secondary breast cancers and its all she needed at the end to help with her pain.

Piggywaspushed - I assume you mean pharmacy2u - so you need a prescription - no different to any other pharmacy then. You can’t just buy it from them. There is a massive difference between prescription price and street value.

OfaFrenchmind2 Urfi marriages are not really Islamic, the majority of them do not meet the requirements to be a valid marriage in Islam. They are common in Egypt but not in other countries.

“To be fair babbity much of what happened at the trial would be regarded at the very least as a mistrial here.”

I don’t know which aspects of the trial you’re referring to as you don’t give details. But the point is, she committed this crime in another country and it doesn’t take many brain cells to work out that you’ll be subject to the criminal justice system according to the country where you commit the crime

What LP did was foolish in the extreme.

However, being foolish does not completely disqualify people from receiving any support or consular assistance. If being foolish were grounds enough for disqualification, many currently in receipt of a range of supports and benefits would lose their entitlements (including a few vociferous posters here).

Indeed babbity Precisely why they need foreign office support and not just the key thrown away when found guilty under - at the very least - confusing circumstances!

unnoticed you do need a prescription but it doesn't need to be from your GP. Having used them when I couldn't get a GP appointment for love or money you can get a private prescription very easily.

The £23 being quoted seems to be the selling price. Using street price is slightly disingenuous as it is hardly something you pick up on a street corner in the UK . Anyway, what was called 'street price' by the press yesterday now seems to have been reported as what it was bought for (whether by Laura or the colleague who gave it to her, I'm not sure)

It’s the parents who seem to find the circumstances confusing piggy. To most sane people looking objectively, LP has committed a crime, got caught, and is being punished accordingly.

Being foolish also doesn't give you a "get out of jail free" card either. If being foolish was a defence then our prisons would be very quiet.

That said, I'm sure with a decent lawyer in the UK she probably would have got off on a technicality or had a slap on the wrist but she didn't go to court here. There are people in the UK who have committed greater crimes and walked free which again is besides the point really

re addiction. I claim no expertise but this is where I got the fact from :

•It's possible to become addicted to tramadol, but this is rare if you're taking it to relieve pain as advised by your doctor.

beta.nhs.uk/medicines/tramadol/

No babbity I was referring to the confusion in court over interpreting of charges and the guilty plea, confused advice given by lawyers and FO and many other things that may have misled LP and her family. There is an appeal pending after all!

Wow! Piggy PLEASE don't give prescription drugs to others for whom they've not been prescribed. You DON'T know their full medical history, allergies etc (lots of people even forget their OWN full history) and could genuinely cause them harm, there are GOOD reasons why certain drugs are only available on prescription. I have nursed people who've suffered awful even life threatening side effects because a well meaning friend or relative has given them a prescribed medication.

As for "street pricing" that IS relevant because that's how much her boyfriend would have been able to sell them for, that's the whole motivation for obtaining and selling/distributing the drugs in the first place!

The nhs site has to tread a fine line between advising they ARE addictive and not putting off people who genuinely need from using them.

The fact is it's a popular drug for getting high here and in Egypt.

The fact is - she broke not even just ONE law but SEVERAL in TWO different continents!

The fact is her actions would have resulted in misery for many people - addicts and their family and all those who love them. And quite possibly already have as I too HIGHLY doubt this was the first time she did this.

To those sympathising with her - go spend some time with addicts in recovery centres, talk to their families about the HELL they have been through, SEE the state of addicts when they are dying, bags of bones, barely breathing, covered in sores, veins fucked so bad it can be impossible to get a canula in... Yea SHE is having a hard time

graphista I do know my DH's medical history, thanks.

I have given my prescription anti histamines to my DS. You can get it OTC after all but, no, I wouldn't give either of them my naproxen. my own DM gave me her prescribed diazepam a few times. But obviously, no, I wouldn't ever be in the situation where I was carting 300 painkillers to a dubious husband abroad.

The facts under dispute is whether LP knew any of the above about tramadol (and I do think with all of your stuff about veins etc you are making a bit of a leap...) or whether she thought it was for her husband's back pain. And how far many people, not just her, would really really understand the criminality of the actions in the UK. It is also quite interesting that all these meds weren't seen at the UK end !

By the way, I have spent time with addicts and been to a recovery centre.

8Graphisat8 are you aware the street price we were discussing is £23?

Sorry, bold fail.

Are they actually married?

I think Laura P thought they were.

Why the family are still protecting him is up to them, presumably they might as well as it won't do them any good either way

This is true, but I suspect it's another stance which may change when they find out that, instead of visiting and holding Laura's hand in prison, he's moved on to his next "innocent" drug mule

Piggy it's pointless discussing with you as you are determined you're right no matter what.

As I say I have actually nursed addicts at the end of their lives including a relative, if anything I toned down/didn't include all the horrific effects. Do you really not know that addicts veins become damaged?

Addicts who inject presumably?

I am not minimising addiction : it is a dreadful dreadful thing and I am very glad that tramadol didn't get any further. What I am not convinced by is that the woman in question had any level of knowledge of this and wasn't in herself a victim of some terrible manipulation.

But my central point is the earlier nastiness and sneering about her appearance, her northernness, her social class, her intellect, her family's appearance was just uncalled for. Happily seems to have largely vanished from the thread.

I deplore the peddling of drugs but can still feel sorry for somebody being locked away in an Egyptian prison who gets caught up in it.

I don't know what you think I think I am right about?