Chewing Gum Control

Singapore is a liberal Mecca. They've moved far beyond gun registration and control. They register chewing gum.

For years, Hidayat Osman got around this city-state's ban on the sale of chewing gum by picking up an occasional pack in neighbouring Malaysia.

So it was a pleasant surprise when the 24-year-old saw a few perfectly legal boxes of Wrigley's Orbit chewing gum tucked on a shelf behind a pharmacist's counter here.

"After all these years, it'll be nice to get it locally," he said, as he was about to ask for a pack.

Not so fast. The clerk pointed to a sign that says the pharmacist - the only person who can legally dispense gum - was out to lunch. "Wow. It's like a controlled substance," Osman laughed.