‘So Helpless’: Black Navy Veteran In Need of Surgery Trapped In Dubai for Weeks After Arrest for Traveling with His Prescription Pain Medicine, Faces Years In Prison

Charles Wimberly was minutes away from boarding a flight in Dubai back to the United States last month when he was arrested for drug trafficking for carrying six CBD capsules, which he uses to manage his back pain. The 52-year-old Black man from Georgia was placed in a holding cell inside Dubai International Airport for more than 24 hours without food and water, resulting in the U.S. Navy veteran passing out from a diabetic episode. And without his CBD and ibuprofen, both of which were confiscated from him, his back pain became unbearable — the result of two ruptured discs from falling out of a helicopter during his 21-year career in the Navy.& He was awakened by a doctor shining a light in his eyes, asking if he was diabetic, which he confirmed. A blood test determined his blood sugar levels had dropped to 40 mg/dl, which could be life-threatening considering the normal range is between 70 to 100 mg/dl, according to the World Health Organization.& Unable to walk, Dubai police eventually had to carry him to another cell in the airport, where he was locked up with more than 200 other inmates, crammed together like sardines, most of them...