Monroe & West Monroe, La. To Go Entirely Smoke Free

The cities of Monroe and West Monroe, La. will ban smoking in nightclubs, bars and bingo halls on Jan. 2, the last two places where indoor smoking was allowed in the northern Louisiana cities.

On Monday, the Monroe City Council amended the new laws to ban smoking within five feet of an entrance, down from the originally proposed 15 feet.

Monroe and West Monroe are part of Ouachita Parish, The Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living—which requested the bans in Monroe and West Monroe—has said it will target the two remaining towns in the parish, Richwood and Sterlington.

Monroe has a population estimated around 50,000, while West Monroe’s is estimated at under 15,000. The cities are home to A&E’s popular television show Duck Dynasty.

Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.