UAE Supreme Court restores AED 30,000 drug fine, cancels deportation order

The UAE Federal Supreme Court has cancelled a deportation order in a drug-use case and restored the original AED 30,000 fine, ruling that deportation cannot be used as a substitute for a financial penalty, according to The Filipino Times.

The ruling matters for healthcare operators because the case turned partly on prescribed and unprescribed substances. The resident was convicted of consuming methamphetamine, pregabalin and tropicamide. The court accepted that pregabalin, the active ingredient in Lyrica, had been prescribed, but found no valid prescription for methamphetamine or tropicamide. For Dubai clinics, pharmacies and claims teams, that distinction is the compliance lesson.

What the court decided

The case began in Ajman, where the Federal Misdemeanours Court imposed a AED 30,000 fine. The Ajman Federal Court of Appeal replaced the fine with deportation after the resident appealed. The Federal Supreme Court rejected the challenge to the conviction but found that the appeal court had made a legal error by replacing a fine with deportation.

The court referred to Article 126 of the UAE Crimes and Penalties Law, which allows deportation of foreign nationals instead of imprisonment in certain misdemeanor cases. The court said that provision applies to custodial sentences, not fines. It also examined Article 75 of the UAE anti-narcotics law, as amended in 2025, which allows exceptions to deportation in some family circumstances.

The resident told the court that deportation would affect his family, who live in the UAE. The court cancelled the deportation order and restored the fine. The conviction remained in place. Gulf News also reported that the resident was born in the UAE and that the Federal Supreme Court partly quashed the appeal judgment on 10 October 2026.

Why pharmacies and clinics should care

For COOs, pharmacy directors and medical directors, the ruling is a reminder that controlled-medicine documentation can become legal evidence. In Dubai, the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) Drug Control section oversees approvals for purchase, transfer, disposal, custody and quota changes for controlled, semi-controlled and narcotic medicines, according to DHA’s Drug Control page.

Federal pharmaceutical law also sets specific duties for pharmacists. Federal Decree-Law No. 38 of 2024 says prescriptions for narcotic and psychotropic medicines must come from the approved electronic system, include the commercial and scientific name, dose, duration, patient details and any data required for the national tracking platform. It also requires pharmacists to record controlled and semi-controlled dispensing on the tracking platform.

• Dubai operators should keep DHA drug-control custody, quota and disposal approvals current.
• Abu Dhabi pharmacies should check platform use, inventory records and named accountable staff.
• Northern Emirates providers should verify MOHAP and Emirates Drug Establishment requirements before dispensing controlled medicines.
• Insurers and TPAs should flag claims where controlled medicines lack valid electronic prescription records.

In Abu Dhabi, the Department of Health Abu Dhabi (DOH) activated the inventory-management module of the National Platform for Narcotic and Controlled Medicines on 15 July 2024 for healthcare and pharmaceutical facilities. DOH warned that non-compliance would lead to disciplinary action under applicable rules. DOH’s public dashboard for 2019 to December 2022 recorded 3,146,940 controlled-medicine prescriptions, 526,974 patients, 864 outpatient pharmacies, 413 healthcare facilities and 7,150 physicians in the Abu Dhabi platform.

Patient risk and claims risk

For patients, the practical point is simple. A valid prescription for one medicine does not protect a patient who consumes another controlled or harmful substance without authorisation. The court accepted the pregabalin prescription, yet upheld the conviction because other substances were not covered by valid prescriptions.

For insurers, the case shows why pharmacy claims for controlled and semi-controlled medicines need documentation checks beyond price and eligibility. A reimbursed medicine can later sit inside a criminal file, an employment case or a liability complaint. Claims teams should be able to retrieve the prescriber, dispensing pharmacy, prescription date, medicine name, dose and refill status.

For clinics and pharmacies, the next audit should start with two questions: whether every controlled-medicine transaction can be matched to a valid electronic prescription, and whether the responsible pharmacist or physician is named in the facility’s regulator file. Dubai providers should check DHA records first. Abu Dhabi and Al Ain providers should check DOH platform obligations. Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain providers should check Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) and Emirates Drug Establishment rules.

Patients and operators looking for licensed pharmacy providers can use the UAE Open Healthcare Directory, which lists licensed providers across the UAE, including pharmacy providers in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the northern emirates.