Reply #8: This is not new ...

[RoyGBiv]

Many states and local municipalities have laws on the books that allow this sort of thing. They commonly don't enforce it a) because it's one of those things that takes massive resources to enforce regularly and b) it hurts business, especially in touristy areas and other places that draw large crowds that include people who go to bars and clubs while they're there. On OU-TX weekend, Dallas police, for example, don't even actively enforce laws dealing with public intoxication unless the person is driving, causing a disturbance, or doing something that pisses off a cop. Small towns, on the other hand, use laws like this a lot.

Anyway, being drunk in public is usually defined as being drunk in any place that is openly accessible to the public, i.e. anywhere except a private home or private club. The idea that you break the public intoxication law the moment you step out of the bar is a common drinker's myth. Another popular drinker's myth is that cops won't notice you're drunk if they can't smell alcohol, so you drink vodka, which is wrong on two counts. Behavior is the most common indicator of drunkenness, and people drunk on vodka definitely have an odor.