There has been a public smoking ban here for a little while now. I don't mind going outside to smoke, but there is a problem with this here where I live.
Downtown is a party/bar/club scene. Charleston is a college town. A lot of drinkers smoke (at least when they consume alcohol). When the bars are crowded, huge groups of people make their way outside to stand in front of the bars to smoke. They don'y throw their butts away, and the result is a lake of cigarette butts flooding the sidewalks come 2am (when the bars MUST legally close).
I can only imagine what all of the tourists who don't smoke think when they have to walk through the massive clouds of smoke to get to their first seafood restaurant or something.
It's bad enough that it stinks outside when these huge groups of people are outside, but some of these law makers should try walking THROUGH the crowd. Just trying to get to their destinations on time.
If they are going to ban smoking in public places, they need to make designated smoking areas to accomidate for the people who do smoke, and who have that right.
If people who don't smoke are entitled to breathe clean air, the people who do smoke are entitled to have an area of their own.
