Alcohol, substances and the legal position

The legal position on alcohol and drugs differs so much between countries that assumptions carried from home are genuinely dangerous.

Alcohol

Where the variation is wide.

Prohibited entirely in several countries, with penalties including imprisonment and corporal punishment in some.

Restricted in others — to licensed venues, to non-Muslims, to particular areas, or during particular periods.

Permitted with restrictions on public consumption in many countries, where drinking in the street is an offence.

Drink-driving limits are lower than many travellers expect and are zero in several countries, with severe penalties.

Purchase and consumption ages vary.

And importing alcohol is prohibited or limited in several countries, with the limits enforced.

The practical risk from alcohol

Beyond the legal question.

Alcohol is a documented factor in a substantial share of incidents involving travellers — accidents, drownings, road incidents, thefts and assaults.

It also voids most travel insurance policies for any claim arising while under the influence, which is a specific and frequently discovered consequence.

Counterfeit and adulterated spirits are a genuine problem in some markets, with methanol poisoning producing deaths among travellers periodically.

The indicators: unusually cheap spirits, unsealed bottles, and free or heavily discounted drinks at certain venues.

Drink spiking occurs, and the standard precautions apply — watching drinks being poured, not accepting drinks from strangers, and not leaving drinks unattended.

Drugs

Where the consequences are most severe and most frequently underestimated.

Several countries impose capital punishment for drug offences, including for quantities that would attract a fine elsewhere.

Many impose lengthy mandatory prison sentences with no discretion.

Foreign nationals are not treated leniently and in some jurisdictions are treated more severely.

Consular assistance in these cases is limited to ensuring due process and welfare visits — no government can extract a citizen from another country's legal system.

Prison conditions in many countries are extremely poor.

The specific traps

Situations that catch travellers.

Legality at home is irrelevant. Cannabis being legal in your own country provides no protection whatsoever elsewhere, and residue in luggage has resulted in prosecutions.

Prescription medication. Several common prescriptions — including some for pain, attention disorders, anxiety and sleep — are controlled or prohibited in certain countries.

Travellers have been detained for carrying medication prescribed legally at home.

Checking with the destination's embassy, and carrying a prescriber's letter, is the protection.

Carrying anything for someone else, which is the classic mechanism and which remains effective.

Entrapment, which occurs in tourist areas in several countries, where a seller and an officer operate together.

Testing positive, since several countries prosecute for consumption evidenced by a test, including for consumption that occurred elsewhere.

Where to check

Government travel advice pages set out the legal position and the penalties for each country, and they are specific about drug laws because the consequences are so severe.

Embassy websites for the destination country provide information on prohibited medications.

These take ten minutes to read and are worth reading in full for any destination where the position is uncertain.

The general position

Stated plainly.

The potential consequences of a drug offence abroad — years of imprisonment in poor conditions, or worse — are so disproportionate to any benefit that the only sensible approach is complete avoidance.

This is not a moral argument. It is a risk assessment, and the asymmetry is extreme.

The same applies to alcohol in countries where it is prohibited, where the penalties are severe and are applied to visitors.

Local production and quality

A practical point.

Locally produced alcohol in several countries is unregulated, and methanol contamination has caused deaths among travellers periodically.

The indicators of risk: spirits sold loose or in unsealed containers, unusually cheap drinks in tourist areas, and free spirits included in packages.

Sealed bottles from established retailers are the reliable approach.

Duty free and import limits

Worth checking before buying.

Import allowances for alcohol and tobacco vary and are enforced, and several countries prohibit import entirely regardless of quantity.

Purchases made at an airport before a connecting flight may also be confiscated at the connection point if not in an approved sealed bag.

General information about travel, not legal advice. Laws and penalties vary enormously and change — consult your government's travel advice and the destination country's embassy before travelling.