Lock Them Up!

Do you have any bad habits? If drinking is one of them, don’t tell anyone.

- Lee Aronson

That’s because being a habitual drunk is a crime in Louisiana. And I’m not talking about driving while intoxicated or public drunkenness or disturbing the peace. I’m talking about drinking in your own home, quietly, not disturbing anyone. If that’s your habit, there’s a Louisiana law that says you could go to jail.

But that’s not all this law says. It also says that if anyone ever asks you, “What are you doing here?” then you better have a good answer. Because it’s illegal to be somewhere unless you can “account for [your] lawful presence.” That’s what happened to Nick Scott. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail for failing to “account for his lawful purpose” at the National Car rental counter in the New Orleans airport.

If you have the habit of gambling, you may not want to tell the police. That’s because another part of this law makes it illegal to be a habitual gambler or a person “who for the most part maintains themselves by gambling.”