Entrances to clubs have notoriously been congested with eager dancers and partiers. The lines fill up the sidewalks, making it nearly impossible to squeeze by. Now, with the smoking ban in effect since May 5, the outsides of clubs will be even more crowded with smokers who are pushed out onto the street to feed their addiction.

The ban, mandated in 80 municipalities in Massachusetts, will make it illegal for patrons to smoke inside of bars, restaurants and clubs. The smoke-free environment, however, has not spread to establishments as close as Cambridge.

Monday night at The Middle East in Cambridge, smoke wafted freely while the band Pedro the Lion played, while just over the Massachusetts Avenue bridge clear air was circulating through Our House East.

“I don’t feel like someone’s right to smoke trumps my right to breathe clear air,” said Chris DeFalzio, a 22-year-old senior computer science major.

The idea behind banning smoking in bars, clubs or restaurants is to deter the effects of secondhand smoke.

According to the American Lung Association’s Web site, lungusa.org, secondhand smoke contains over 4000 chemicals; 200 are poisons and 43 cause cancer. Secondhand smoke has been classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a known cause of cancer in humans.

DeFalzio said drinking alcohol does not pose direct hazards to those who are not drinking, but secondhand smoke is sometimes unavoidable – especially when packed into a low-capacity club such as The Middle East.

Smokers outside of Our House on Tuesday night said they were sympathetic to non-smokers and the ban, as well as understanding of the disdain for secondhand smoke.

“I agree with the ban in restaurants,” said Kyle Brenton, a 22-year-old smoker of 10 years and graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. “But, I think bars should have the choice of whether or not the ban applies to them. I agree with it when food is being served.”

Jessica Sandidge, a first-year graduate student studying voice at the New England Conservatory of Music, was standing accompanying her friend, a fellow musician – who wished to remain anonymous because he is a closet smoker – on his smoke break.

Sandidge said she agrees with the ban because she has been around smokers the majority of her life, and it is important to protect her voice. She says it has not been fair in the past to go out for fun and come home with a sore throat.

Smoker or not, the ban will come as a change and will be enforced by city officials.

The Massachusetts legislation comes a few weeks after a ban went into effect in New York City. Currently, according to smokefreeworld.com, 21 states have some form of a smoking ban enacted in one or more of their cities.