Hey now, don't pick on BJs.
The penis-worshiping country of Bhutan was the first in the world to ban the sale of tobacco products in 2005. Their hope was to become the first smoke-free nation on the globe (good for karma), but just like with the American Prohibition, things didn’t quite go as planned. Smuggling operations began “importing” tobacco from neighboring India and the impact of the ban was almost null.
This year, however, they’ve passed new, tougher legislation to stub out the smoking habit. Any shopkeeper who is caught selling tobacco will get five years in jail, with the same punishment also applying to smokers who fail to provide customs receipts for their imported cigarettes. And it doesn’t stop there. The Bhutan Narcotic Control Agency is allowed to raid homes if someone is seen smoking or if they have reason to believe there is illegal tobacco there. Aiding in those raids will be tobacco sniffer dogs, which are currently trained by the Royal Bhutan Police.
It seems to me that Bhutan’s leaders have never heard of this concept: subtlety. You can’t just force change on a whole nation.
