His ADHD meds, codeine and Anti D's are all on the controlled list, and you need to get permission from Health Authorities to take it into country.
I'm on all those except codeine and regularly travel in and out of the UAE. You just need a doctor's note and you can only take enough for personal use.
Dubai is a lovely city, however, like many places, you'll never experience it fully on holiday. I've been to many places and I would never assume that I KNOW a place or that I can even fairly judge it, based on a week's holiday. There is quite a bit of culture in Dubai, but you have to venture out of the Palm, Jumeriah and Business Bay to see it.
Moreover, the UAE as a whole is a beautiful country with lots to see, and a fascinating, rich culture and history.
Fine if it's not everyone's cup of tea, we all look for different things in life. I prefer to live in places that challenge me and where things are constantly changing.
I found Canada boring, stagnant and bland. I find the UAE, for all of it's issues, vibrant, challenging and exciting.
Does it have Human Rights issues? Yes, but so do many many many countries, I won't even get into the treatment of First Nations people in Canada. However, avoiding the country doesn't solve the problem. Look at North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, etc. The more closed off a country is, the more human rights abuses become entrenched.
In the 12 years that I've lived in Qatar & the UAE the place has evolved by leaps and bounds. There never used to be avenues for expatriate workers to file complaints against their sponsors, now there are. Expatriates used to require exit permits to leave the country, that's been abolished. There are bodies to oversee laborer accommodations and wellbeing. And while bad things still happen, it's no where near what it was.
As for women's rights, that's also changing. When I moved to Qatar in 2006, you rarely heard of a Qatari girl being allowed to go to University overseas. Now it's becoming more common place. Emirati women make up a huge portion of the workforce and the government is mandating that organizations have on-site nurseries, 3 month maternity leave, and areas for breastfeeding. I experienced far worse sexism in South Korea & Canada than I ever experienced in the UAE/Qatar.
Funnily enough, there was a story in the paper that the UAE allowed a well known Ugandan LGBT activist into the country as a refugee. This place works in mysterious ways.
No place is perfect, and the point should be the strides they are making to change, not what they've done in the past (or else we need to condemn every country equally).