Vomiting in Public Declared Unlawful

With flu season mercifully coming to a close, it's not too late for me to warn the local population (and particularly the residents of Isla Vista, California) that, yes indeed, the act of vomiting in public is likely to get you detained if not arrested, and I'm dead serious. No, vomiting, though thoroughly unpleasant for everyone in the near vicinity of it, is not actually illegal. For one thing, it is usually involuntary. In fact, often times, you can't stop it if you try. Yes, of course, alcohol abuse is a common cause of vomiting. But vomiting, as a physician recently explained to me, is a disease. Vomiting, per se, is not an act as much as it is a symptom of indigestion and it knows many causes. Alcoholic beverages can be, and often are, a contributing factor, but common experience teaches us that there are many other factors (e.g., allergies, bad food, influenza, excessive ingestion of any substance, exercise, being around others who are vomitting, and gory/disgusting images, sounds and/or odors). The union of alcohol consumption and one or more of these other factors may lead to vomit, and that doesn't mean that a crime has been committed.
I am calling on the local population that drinks alcohol to slow down. I am also asking the local police to slow down on arresting people simply because they vomited and they suspect (or know) alcohol was involved. What's wrong with giving them a rub on the back, a towel to wipe off their mouth and maybe a ride home? This is how we would treat a friend or family member in their hour of need, would we not? In this same regard, I will continue to call upon the powers that be to install a sobering center in Isla Vista; as much as that may reduce my earnings as a lawyer with a number of clients facing public intoxication misdemeanor charges. It's the right thing to do.

Intoxylizers in wider use?

I applaud the UCSB police for using an investigative tool to determine just how drunk a woman was whom they recently arrested for public intoxication. She was, however, found face down vomiting, but that's beside the point. I support the use of intoxylizers by police before they book someone on a charge of drunk in public. Such a practice would significantly reduce the number of people needlessly booked and prosecuted. While rare, occasionally the police do book individuals for public intoxication by alcohol who have had either nothing (yes, nothing) or very trivial amounts of alcohol to drink. The intoxylizers, which are readily available to the police, and easy to use, are just the trick to better ensure that these injustices will not occur. I know, I know, it'll be tough to administer the test to someone then let them go if they test in a range that suggests that they are likely capable of getting safely home, but you just might sleep a little better at night knowing that you didn't cause an innocent person to spend a night in jail and very likely render them a criminal.