Remember the 23-year-old monk in Bhutan who was arrested for carrying chewing tobacco into the country from India under Bhutan's tough new anti-tobacco law? According to the Independent, Sonam Tshering was sentenced yesterday to three years in prison. A little harsh, no? After the verdict he cried, and told reporters, "I should be punished, but the penalty could have been lighter. I wasn't aware about the act." The court ruled that he should be jailed for not paying duties on the tobacco, and that the country's new law "represents the popular will of the people."

Bhutan has some of the toughest anti-smoking laws in the world, and police can now enter homes if they even smell tobacco. And last week, police arrested the first person under the new law: A Buddhist monk.

You think anti-smoking regulations are tough in the US? Well, at least you don't have to worry about your home being raided by police with a tobacco sniffer dog, or face five years in prison for having too many cigarettes.