New Hampshire didn’t hold a voter ballot, nor did it officially pass a legalization bill yet. But that doesn’t mean its not working on something. A new bill recently signed, creates the requirement in New Hampshire for setting up a commission to look into opening a legal cannabis market. This is a new model for legalization, and it puts New Hampshire in line to legalize recreational weed.
How laws pass
We’re used to a few different ways of passing laws. The most common is for a government representative to think something up, write it down as a draft, for that draft to be argued over in both sides of congress (or whatever else the parliamentary system is called), voted on, and either passed or left for dead. Most of the time, this is how things happen. And it happens whether the majority of the people agree with the actions or not.
A small percentage of the time, we the people are allowed to have a more direct say. This happens through voter ballots which are voted on the same way a person votes for a candidate in an election. They are held during elections, and show up as a separate question that voters can directly respond to. If the majority say ‘yes,’ the law is instated. If the majority vote ‘no,’ then its not. In this case, it happens whether the government agrees with the action or not.
These initiatives are put together generally by a non-governmental group, like an activist group. The initiatives must go through review, and comply with state and federal law, in order to make it to the ballot. Many problems arise because of pushback by governments trying to find any reason to keep an initiative off the ballot, or change the result. These ballots represent a lack of control for elected officials, and are not always wanted. They are also much harder to amend, as they aren’t a government creation, but a creation of the people.
In an unexpected turn, Green Dragon, one of the largest dispensary chains in Colorado, will keep its stores and grow facility open.
The retailer’s parent company, California-based Eaze, got an infusion of $10 million from its owner, Jim Clark, to remain operating, it announced Tuesday. Clark, the billionaire founder of the defunct tech firm Netscape, foreclosed on the company’s assets in August for $54 million.
“We’ve just been working with the new ownership group to assess what we’re doing in the future,” said Cory Azzalino, Eaze’s CEO. “It’s nothing world-shaking, but I’m excited to keep going.”
The first dispensary chain founded by Alex Levine, Andy Levine and Lisa Leder is preparing to cease operations in Colorado, three years after they sold it.
But they have high expectations for take two — their new chain, Fired Cannabis.
“Our plan is to get back to where we were,” said Alex Levine. “It’s just a long detour.”
At least 384 flights were canceled and 467 delayed at Denver International Airport on Friday as heavy snow pelted metro Denver and Colorado’s eastern plains.
The Federal Aviation Administration activated a traffic management program for flights bound for DIA “due to weather/snow-ice.” The average delay for flights under this plane was one hour and 50 minutes, FAA officials said, adding that departing flight schedules also may be affected by the weather.
There were 851 total delayed and canceled flights at DIA as of 11:45 a.m., according to Flight Aware. SkyWest reported the most cancellations with 183, followed by Southwest with 124, and Frontier with 30.