DECRIMINALIZING POT, DECRIMINALIZING GUM

Two of the world's great democracies are struggling with radical social
change.

Recognizing that the world has changed, Canada is set to decriminalize
possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Initially, Ottawa allowed marijuana to be prescribed for medical reasons,
and now that courts have struck down marijuana laws in some provinces,
Ottawa is moving to decriminalize possession across the country.

Recognizing that chewing gum perhaps isn't the evil influence some believe
it to be, Singapore is once again allowing citizens to chew gum.

But only with a doctor's prescription.

Singapore is known as the cleanest city in Asia in every sense of the word.
Part of the reason is strict measures against anything that could tarnish
the sparkling city.

Vandalism in Singapore will net you a stiff caning.

Chewing gum until recently could net you a stiff fine.

The government had a lot of reasons for banning chewing gum. According to
the government of Singapore, so many people were sticking gum under tables
that Singaporeans' pants were getting wrecked.

The government even claimed, at one point, that commuters were being trapped
in subway cars because chewing gum was sticking the doors together (I'm a
slow learner, but one thing I have learned after 20 years as a journalist is
to never to trust anything a government says).

Until recently, the penalty for being caught with a stick of gum in
Singapore was $6,000 and 12 months in jail.

Singapore is not your typical Asian country. The tiny city-state fines
people for not flushing public toilets ($500 fine for a first offence),
subjects vandals to caning, and imposes the death penalty on anyone caught
with drugs.

There are areas where eating durians (a southeast Asian fruit that smells
terrible but tastes great) is forbidden.

And thanks to a recent campaign, the island now has noise police to keep
down the volume in public libraries.

More than 10 people now patrol six of the island's libraries urging users to
pipe down and switch off their cell phones as part of a "library etiquette
campaign."

"The volunteers go around the library during the noisiest times and speak to
people who are talking on their cell phones, kids who are shouting or those
who are chatting away," according to a National Library Board spokesperson.

Singapore conducts a number of public campaigns each year to encourage
people to behave better. Past campaigns have encouraged residents to smile,
to wave to fellow road users, and to turn mobile phones off during movies. A
campaign in February, coinciding with Valentine's Day, told people how to
act on a date.

Anyway, big American business finally convinced Singapore to loosen up on
its chewing gum ban.

Pharmacists will be able to sell, with a prescription, gum that aids "dental
and oral hygiene."

The government will allow the sale of Orbit and Orbit White by Wrigley--they
are sugar-free and claim to "freshen breath and whiten teeth." Eventually,
other gums will be permitted to be sold.

The move comes after some lobbying from the American government. A free
trade deal was signed two months ago. The "therapeutic" gum will be sold
once the agreement is in force, expected by the end of the year.

If Singapore is anything like Canada, the gum-by-prescription plan will end
with the decriminalization of possession of chewing gum.

Of course, some in Singapore are decrying the end of the total chewing gum
ban, suggesting that it will lead to a general moral decline in the
squeaky-clean nation.

The liberalization of laws in both countries is very good news for
gum-chewing, pot-smoking travellers. Although neither activity will be as
much fun now that you don't have to carefully hide your pot or your gum in
your luggage.