Woman caught with heroin in Laos

Last updated on: May 13, 2009 at 1:36 pm by Nancy Qualls-Shehata

Woman caught with heroin in Laos 2009-05-13T13:36:00-04:00 Nancy Qualls-Shehata

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Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim

Salaam Alaikum wa Rahmatullah

I’ve been kind of following a news story on CNN about a woman who was allegedly caught with about two kilos of heroin on her in Laos. She is in jail there now, and possibly became pregnant as a result of rape while in jail. She is awaiting trial right now.

I have mixed emotions about this. First of all, rape is a horrendous crime and no woman should ever have to submit to it. Being in a filthy hellhole of a prison with inadequate food and sanitation is an offense to my sensibilities. People who have been convicted of crimes should not be dealt with in such a manner; people who have not yet been tried shouldn’t be either.

That being said, I have no argument with the goverment seeking to impose the death penalty on drug traffickers (though they may not impose it on this woman due to her pregnancy). I have seen this show on TV called “Locked Up Abroad” and there are many stories of business people or tourists agreeing to carry heroin or cocaine in order to smuggle it back into their home countries. They think of it as a one-time lark, a way to score quick cash. Then they get caught and go all “call my embassy!” Uh, you’re a drug smuggler, why should your home country want to help you? You were, after all, willing to bring a poison into the country. As far as I am concerned, being a drug mule, even once, makes you an accessory to murder. People die due to overdoses, drug-related killings, accidents due to impaired judgment. Because YOU helped carry that drug into your country, your state, your neighborhood, you bear responsibility for EVERY crime, injury, or death associated with the drugs you carried. How many people can get high off of two kilos of heroin? Who will overdose and die because of YOU. Oh, I’m just one person, you say. Drugs are everywhere and the bricks I brought in are just a drop in the bucket you say. That’s a facile rationalization. You have aided terrorists, traffickers, addicts, and anyone who benefits from the sale of drugs. So, as far as I am concerned, you can rot in your cell for a while. Perhaps that will discourage the next stupid tourist from agreeing to be a mule for some drug cartel.

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