I'm not a smoker ... but this smoking ban in NOLA pisses me the fuck off.
First ... it's WAY too "sweeping" - they've essentially banned smoking EVERYWHERE.
Second ... they included E-Cigarettes, not because they have evidence they're harmful but just because ... "we have concerns".
Third ... well, I would suppose that banning smoking in bars isn't that bad. I work in bars doing security - I never liked the smoke.
However, I'm not looking forward to having to "police" drunks who are not only drunk - but need a nicotine fix. I mean ... I see it now ... some drunk guy lights up - I have to go tell him ... "Sir, could you please put that out?" And since he's drunk - he decides to take out his disdain for the city council THAT PASSED THIS FUCKING LAW ... on me. I wonder how many fuckin' fights this will cause.
Fourth ... People come up to me when I'm on shift and hold up their drink and say ... "Can I take this outside?" And I always say ... "Brother this is NEW FUCKIN' ORLEANS - AND THIS IS A FREE CITY - NOT LIKE FUCKING CALIFORNIA - YES, TAKE YOUR DRINK - DRINK ON THE STREET. BE CAREFUL AND ENJOY!"
Yeah - you can still drink on the streets (for now) - but you can't smoke on a lot of 'em and I used to say that same thing whenever anyone asked if they could "light up" in the bar. Now they can't.
So we're no longer the "free city" ...
And I'll bet this is JUST THE START of a whole bunch of stupid assed laws coming out of the city.