Crimes and punishments

March 15, 2011Posted inJustice17 Comments
BBS recently ran two stories: On 4 March they reported that: The Thimphu district court yesterday sentenced a 23-year-old monk to three years in prison for smuggling tobacco. He is the first man to be convicted and sentenced under the controversial tobacco act. Sonam Tshering was caught at the Chunzom checkpoint carrying 48 packets of Baba or chewing tobacco worth Nu.120. He confessed that he bought the chewing tobacco from a shop in the border town of Jaigaon for his own personal consumption. And on 13 March, they reported that: Thimphu City police have apprehended a 17-year-old boy and…

A big problem

July 31, 2009Posted inHealth, Youth
We have a problem. In our last poll, 94% of you claimed to either know or think that drug abuse is already a problem in Bhutan. On the other hand, only 5% of you said that drug abuse is not a problem in our country. 1% admitted that they don’t have a clue. I suspected that substance abuse was growing, especially among out youth. But, I had no reason to think that it was already a problem. The poll results have forced me to rethink my views – that’s why I kept the poll up for so long. Next…

A problem

July 16, 2009Posted inHealth
Last Friday, an MP asked the health minister, Lyonpo Zangley Dukpa, what his ministry was doing to address the growing problem of drug abuse in our country. In his response, Lyonpo Zangley informed the National Assembly that, in 2008, a total of 418 people had been arrested for drug abuse. And that, in the same year, in 2008, 132 drug dealers had been arrested and charged in our courts. Now look at the numbers. 132 drug dealers and 418 drug addicts were caught in the same year. That’s only 3.17 drug addicts caught for every drug dealer caught. And…