Can you buy or smoke cigarettes? Yes and no. The law doesn t say that people under age 18 can t smoke cigarettes, cigarillos or cigars. But the law does have a lot of rules restricting your access to these products.

In Quebec you can t do these things

And if you do?

Under 18

At a point of sale (convenience store, gas station, etc.)

• buy or accept free tobacco products
• ask an adult to buy some for you

In other places

• buy tobacco products

• You aren’t breaking the law.
• The person who provides you with tobacco products is breaking the law and could be fined!

At any age, like other people!

• smoke inside and outside in some public places

• You are breaking the law.
• You could be fined!

Despite these restrictions, no law makes smoking illegal. Do you find this strange?

Why does the law stop you from buying tobacco products, but not prevent you from smoking? If the purpose is to prevent you from smoking or prevent the harm to your health, wouldn t it be better to ban all consumption of tobacco products?

Some people believe that making smoking illegal is not the solution. In their opinion, it s more efficient to restrict your access to tobacco products (through a price increase, for example) or help you make informed choices (through awareness campaigns about the harmful effects of tobacco, for example).

What do you think? Should the law do more to regulate the consumption of tobacco by people under age 18?

Raising age for buying cigarettes: colorado barely rejects proposal — time

n t t t t t t t n t t t t t t t tThe Transgender Tipping Point n t t t t t t t n t t t t t t tSubscribe n t t t t t tSaving PreemiesThe Man Who Guards The Planet

Obamaworld likes to portray its efforts to clean up power plants as a war on pollution in general, not a war on coal in particular, but it just so happens that coal spews most of the pollution from power plants. It u2019s America u2019s leading contributor to global warming, producing three fourths of our carbon emissions from electricity, even though it generates just over one third of our electricity. It u2019s also the dominant source of mercury and other toxics that foul our air and damage our health. It u2019s filthy stuff. When Obama said Saturday that his carbon rules will prevent 100,000 asthma attacks in Year One, he wasn u2019t describing the health benefits of emitting less carbon dioxide he was describing the health benefits of burning less coal. n

So let u2019s face it When Obama talks up his u201call of the above u201d energy strategy, he really means all of the above except the black rocks below. In the 21st century, any national leader that takes environmental protection and the fate of the planet seriously will need to launch a war on coal, and Obama takes it very seriously. He hasn u2019t advertised his war on coal u2014it would be questionable politics in swing states like Ohio or Virginia, and even his home state of Illinois u2014but he u2019s fought it with vigor. n

And even before the new carbon crackdown u2014not to mention stricter ozone standards that are still in the works u2014he u2019s been winning. In the Obama era, utilities have already retired or announced the retirement of nearly one third of the nation u2019s coal plants, eliminating about one fifth of the nation u2019s coal generation capacity. The surviving coal plants have faced steadily increasing environmental compliance costs, and cheap natural gas has stolen a big chunk of their market share. Gas prices have crept up a bit in the last year, which has slowed the decline in coal generation, but with U.S. electricity use now virtually flat, nobody expects a coal renaissance. n

In fact, after a huge boost from the Obama stimulus bill, wind and solar plants are getting cheap, too, and they u2019re increasingly viable replacements for coal, providing 95 percent of the new capacity added in the first quarter of 2014. An Oklahoma utility that is shutting down three coal plants recently requested bids for 200 megawatts of wind power the bids came in so low that the utility purchased 600 megawatts. In Kentucky, coal friendly legislators have introduced a bill to end a requirement that utilities purchase the lowest cost power rock bottom prices used to be coal u2019s trump card, but no more. n

The EPA u2019s effort to reduce carbon emissions by 30 percent will take the war on coal to the next level, and will probably inspire a new round of retirements. The industry has significantly reduced its emissions of sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and other toxic pollutants by installing scrubbers and other mitigation equipment. But scrubbers can u2019t scrub carbon. The Obama stimulus did help finance several efforts to capture and store carbon from coal plants, a rare deviation from the administration u2019s regulatory war on coal, but so far those u201cclean coal u201d projects have been uneconomical despite the extremely generous federal subsidies. n

u201cCoal is dead, u201d says Jon Wellinghoff, who served as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from 2009 until 2013. u201cNobody wants a new plant, and the old ones are going to shut down one by one. I just don u2019t see a future for coal in the U.S. u201d n

But if coal is no longer the cheapest source of electricity, it is still the largest source, and existing coal plants still have one big advantage over planned wind and solar farms They u2019re already built. It u2019s hard to say that coal is dead when it still has 275,000 megawatts of capacity that isn u2019t scheduled to retire. The industry warns that the war on coal will ratchet up utility bills in coal dependent regions, while threatening the reliability of the grid. Coal provides 24 hour u201cbaseload u201d power whether or not the sun is shining or the wind is blowing the U.S. electricity supply barely kept up with demand during the extreme freeze created by last winter u2019s u201cpolar vortex, u201d and a new wave of coal shutdowns could further limit supply. n

u201cLast winter, the grid was pushed to the edge, u201d says one industry official. u201cWith these new regulations, it could get pushed over the cliff. u201d n

The National Mining Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and other coal friendly groups are already raising alarms about gigantic rate increases. But they u2019ve always raised alarms about gigantic rate increases whenever they u2019ve faced new regulations that industry official admitted u201cthere u2019s been some crying of wolf in the past. u201d Dirty coal fired electricity will get somewhat more expensive, which is appropriate, since its price ought to reflect the hidden costs of its dirtiness. But even the nightmare scenario posed by a new Chamber study u2014an 0.2 percent hit to annual economic output u2014seemed relatively modest compared to the apocalyptic rhetoric that accompanied it. And the EPA noted in a response on its website that three fourths of the Chamber study u2019s u201calleged cost estimates u201d came from carbon capture requirements for gas plants, which will not be included in the new rules. n

Those rules, after all, will be aimed at coal plants, even though Obama is likely to obfuscate about that politically inconvenient truth tomorrow. In the 2012 campaign, he actually ran ads reminding Ohio voters of Mitt Romney u2019s long ago crusade against a massive coal plant in Salem, Massachusetts. u201cThat plant kills people, u201d Romney had said, accurately, at a 2003 news conference. n

Not anymore, though. On Sunday, as Obama prepared for one of the biggest moments of his presidency, the Salem Harbor Station shut down after more than sixty years in operation, the latest casualty of a just but undeclared war on coal.»,»section» «name» «Politics»,»slug» «politics»,»url» «http / / /politics /» ,»tag» «name» «White House»,»slug» «white house»,»url» «http / / /tag /white house /» ,»tags» «Barack Obama energy White House»,»hero» «class» «landscape»,»thumbnail» «http / / /2014 /06 / «,»src» «small» «http / / /2014 /06 / «,»small 2x» «http / / /2014 /06 / «,»large» «http / / /2014 /06 / «,»large 2x» «http / / /2014 /06 / » ,»credit» «George Frey u2014Getty Images»,»caption» «Piles of coal wait to be loaded into trucks at the Sufco Coal Mine, 30 miles east of Salina, Utah on May 28, 2014.»,»alt» «Central Utah Anchors State’s Coal Mining Industry» ,»id» 2806697,»encoded url» «http%3A%2F% «,»encoded shortlink» «http%3A%2F% «,»encoded title» «New Carbon Rules the Next Step in Obama%E2%80%99s War on Coal»,»twitter text» «New%20Carbon%20Rules%20the%20Next%20Step%20in%20Obama%27s%20War%20on%20Coal»,»twitter via» «TIMEPolitics»,»related posts» «id» 2807369,»title» «EPA to Seek to Cut Power Plant Carbon by One Third»,»url» «http / / /2807369 /epa to seek to cut power plant carbon by one third /»,»format» «article»,»paid» «0»,»edit link» null,»short title» «EPA to Seek to Cut Power Plant Carbon by One Third»,»hero» false , «id» 95970,»title» «The World Needs More Clean Coal, or We’re Screwed»,»url» «http / / /95970 /coal carbon free iea energy environment /»,»format» «article»,»paid» «0»,»edit link» null,»short title» «The World Needs More Clean Coal, or We’re Screwed» ,»email title» «New%20Carbon%20Rules%20the%20Next%20Step%20in%20Obama%26%238217%3Bs%20War%20on%20Coal%20%7C%20TIME»,»email body» «New%20Carbon%20Rules%20the%20Next%20Step%20in%20Obama%26%238217%3Bs%20War%20on%20Coal%0A%0A%0A%0Ahttp%3A%2F% «,»omniture» «modules» «rr related , «url» «http / / /2807793 /nigeria bomb kills 14 /»,»right now» true,»shortlink» «http / / /1rAWVH4″,»title» «Nigeria Bomb Blast Kills at Least 14″,»post type» «post»,»time article» tru
e,»comments allowed» true,»short title» «Nigeria Bomb Kills 14″,»excerpt» «The strike targeted a TV viewing center for soccer matches, and Boko Haram is the prime suspect. Over 500 civilians have died in attacks since the Islamic militant group kidnapped over 200 schoolgirls on April 14″,»format» «brief»,»time» «pretty» «3 18 AM ET»,»published» «2014 06 02 03 18 55″,»updated» «2014 06 02 07 18 55″,»minute» «3 18 am»,»short» «3 18 AM ET» ,»authors» «id» 207044026,»url» «http / / /author /per liljas /»,»name» «Per Liljas»,»twitter» «»,»gplus» «»,»email» «»,»thumbnail» null,»bio» «» ,»content» «

A bomb blast in northeastern Nigeria on Sunday killed at least 14 and wounded 12. n

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which hit a television viewing center for soccer matches, but the Islamic militant group Boko Haram is a prime suspect, Reuters reports. n

The outfit, fighting for an Islamic state in Nigeria u2019s north, caused global outrage when it kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls on April 14. Since then, a string of strikes have killed at least 500 civilians. n

Last weekend saw a botched attempt by a suicide bomber to strike an open air viewing of a soccer match in the central city of Jos, which was ravaged by a twin bomb explosion days before, killing 118. n

Neighboring country Cameroon claimed on Sunday to have killed some 40 Boko Haram militants in clashes in the country u2019s far north. n

Reuters n»,»section» «name» «World»,»slug» «world»,»url» «http / / /world /» ,»tag» «name» «Africa»,»slug» «africa»,»url» «http / / /tag /africa /» ,»tags» «Africa Attack Boko Haram Nigeria Terrorism»,»id» 2807793,»encoded url» «http%3A%2F% «,»encoded shortlink» «http%3A%2F% «,»encoded title» «Nigeria Bomb Blast Kills at Least 14″,»twitter text» «Nigeria%20Bomb%20Blast%20Kills%20at%20Least%2014″,»twitter via» «TIMEWorld»,»email title» «Nigeria%20Bomb%20Blast%20Kills%20at%20Least%2014%20%7C%20TIME»,»email body» «Nigeria%20Bomb%20Blast%20Kills%20at%20Least%2014%0A%0AThe%20strike%20targeted%20a%20TV viewing%20center%20for%20soccer%20matches%2C%20and%20Boko%20Haram%20is%20the%20prime%20suspect.%20Over%20500%20civilians%20have%20died%20in%20attacks%20since%20the%20Islamic%20militant%20group%20kidnapped%20over%20200%20schoolgirls%20on%20April%2014%0A%0Ahttp%3A%2F% » , «url» «http / / /2804898 /snowden nsa facial recognition /»,»right now» true,»shortlink» «http / / /1hMG5vc»,»title» «NSA Collects Millions of Facial Photos Daily, Snowden Documents Say»,»post type» «post»,»time article» true,»comments allowed» true,»short title» «NSA Spies on Selfies»,»excerpt» «The NSA collects around 55,000 facial recognition quality images each day»,»format» «brief»,»time» «pretty» «June 1, 2014″,»published» «2014 06 01 10 16 22″,»updated» «2014 06 01 14 16 22″,»minute» «10 16 am»,»short» «6 /1″ ,»authors» «id» 221794754,»url» «http / / /author /nolan feeney /»,»name» «Nolan Feeney»,»twitter» «NolanFeeney»,»gplus» «107044236566772957437»,»email» » «,»thumbnail» null,»bio» «