Referendum Results: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern explains why she voted for cannabis reform

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she voted yes on cannabis reform because she didn’t want to see people in jail for their use.

Kiwis voted yes to euthanasia and no to legalization of cannabis, preliminary figures announced yesterday revealed.

Speaking in Wellington today, Ardern said his vote was a personal vote.

“This time around, I wanted New Zealanders to decide.”

With an estimated 17 percent of the votes yet to be counted, 65.2 percent voted in favor of the End-of-Life Election Law, while 53.1 percent voted against the draft law. control and legalization of cannabis.

The results mean that New Zealand will become the seventh country in the world to legalize euthanasia.

As a result, the End of Life Election Act will take effect on November 6, 2021, a year after official results are announced next week.

“The country has decided to support compassion and choice,” said Act Party leader David Seymour, who sponsored the landmark law change.

Seymour paid tribute to Wellington attorney Lecretia Seales, whose failed court challenge to gain access to assisted death inspired him to draft the End of Life Choice Act.

After the results were announced yesterday, Ardern confirmed that he voted “yes” in the euthanasia referendum and said his government would advance the legislation in accordance with the will of the people.

But the result shook opponents of euthanasia, who said the law change would be detrimental to New Zealand’s most vulnerable people.

Salvation Army Territorial Commander Mark Campbell said he was “extremely concerned” that assisted death would become legal in this country.

And disability advocate Dr. John Fox, who suffers from a painful neuromuscular condition called spastic hemiplegia, said: “I am quite heartbroken. Rather than improve palliative care and address any of the underlying issues, we have chosen to help people commit suicide. “

The “no” result for cannabis was well received by the Say Nope to Dope campaign and the National Party.

“This is good news for young people who will not be included in a social experiment. We can leave that to Americans and Canadians,” said campaign spokesman Aaron Ironside.

Auckland Councilor Ephesus Collins, who backed the “no” campaign, said he supported the decriminalization of cannabis, while advocates of the reform, including the Drug Foundation, also said the result was a mandate to decriminalize.

Greens MP Chloe Swarbrick also pointed to independent reviews of the justice system in recent years that have called for the removal of criminal penalties for drug use.

But Justice Minister Andrew Little said it would be “irresponsible” for the government to legalize or decriminalize cannabis, or to undertake widespread drug law reform in the wake of the “no” vote.

“We have no other plans for drug law reform,” he said.

“The New Zealand voting public has made its decision. We have to respect that decision.”

There will be a review of changes to the drug law that took effect in August last year, he said, which he called “the closest we can get to effective decriminalization.”

Those changes, described at the time as a game changer to make drug use a health problem, mean that police should only prosecute drug users if it is in the public interest. But since they were implemented, only about 10.7 percent of people caught with drugs receive a medical referral.

That is based on police data, provided to the Herald under the Official Information Act, for police action against those who face drug use / possession as their most serious alleged crime.

Little said he expected that people with drug possession as their most serious charge would “almost automatically” receive a medical referral.

“At first glance, that does not seem to be what is happening. There are reasons to review what is happening to make sure it meets the expectations of the law change that was implemented.

“At first sight, [10.7 per cent] it sounds low, but I’d like to dig into that and see what the detail is. “

The law change has also led to a drop in police prosecutions for drug use, while the use of police warnings has increased.

But the uneven enforcement of the law against Maori, who are three times more likely to be arrested and convicted of a cannabis-related crime than non-Maori, has not changed.

Police data shows a different application of the law to Maori and non-Maori for cannabis use, especially during the closing months of this year.

Prosecutions rose from 16% of all police actions against Maori cannabis users in March to 22% in April (an increase of 37.5%), before rising to 18% in May and 23% in June.

During the same months, prosecutions fell from 18% of all police actions against non-Maori cannabis users in March to 16% in April and 14% in May, before increasing slightly to 15% in June.