Buddhist Monk Broke Bhutan Smoking Law, Faces Prison Time

B

y Kate James

January 29, 2011

A Buddhist monk broke the Bhutan smoking law, and he may have to serve prison time. In fact, the man, who was the first charged under the new law, may end up serving five years in jail. That is a lot of time for smoking even if the nation does believe that smoking is bad Karma.

Bhutan has vowed to become the world’s first smoke-free nation, and it has passed stringent anti-smoking legislation as part of that goal. The monk was charged under the smoking law with both consuming and smuggling the outlawed tobacco. January is the first month of the new rules.

The monk was caught with 72 packets of chewing tobacco without a receipt, which is over the new law’s limit of 150 grams of tobacco per month. Since 2005, the sale of tobacco has been banned, but there has been a huge black market for the drug from Bhutan’s neighbor India. Because of this, the latest smoking law is quite strict. In fact, police are able to enter homes to search for contraband tobacco products.

In this instance, the 24-year-old Buddhist monk could be charged with a fourth degree felony, which carries a sentence of up to five years in prison. However, the man said he was not aware of the new law perhaps because he lives in a 400-year-old monastic school.

So far, the new Bhutan smoking law appears to be working well. However, this monk seems to be caught in the middle. Hopefully he will not be made an example of in this case because it would be tough to serve five years. However, if the country doesn’t stick to its guns on the law, then people may begin breaking it more often making it much less effective.