Mike Yardley – Referendum outcomes look done and dusted

Stuff co.nz 13 October 2020
Family First Comment: Another great commentary from Mike Yardley
“ In a nation racked with a mental health crisis (much of which is drug-induced), legalisation of grow-your-own and the proliferation of 400 licensed dope shops will simply lead to a greater prevalence of drugs for supply and a greater prevalence of kids taking them. We have enough societal ills without blithely adding fuel to that fire, nor society surrendering to recreational cannabis by legitimising its sale and use for a cheap and nasty tax grab.”

OPINION: It’s the final sprint, the final lunge at the finishing post. But with just four days of campaigning left, and a million advance votes already banked, predicting the outcome of our two referendums is a far safer bet than the election itself.

Conversely, the legalisation of recreational cannabis is destined to be defeated – and rightly so. Despite the best efforts of some pro-cannabis advocates to muddy the waters by lumping (already legalised) medicinal cannabis into the referendum debate, middle New Zealand will send this referendum to the knackers’ yard.

In a nation racked with a mental health crisis (much of which is drug-induced), legalisation of grow-your-own and the proliferation of 400 licensed dope shops will simply lead to a greater prevalence of drugs for supply and a greater prevalence of kids taking them.

We have enough societal ills without blithely adding fuel to that fire, nor society surrendering to recreational cannabis by legitimising its sale and use for a cheap and nasty tax grab.

The prime minister’s refusal to come clean on how she voted on the cannabis referendum, despite passionately supporting the enabling legislation, speaks volumes. She knows this referendum is going down, powered by the backlash from middle New Zealand, and she doesn’t want her brand sullied in the process.
READ MORE: https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/123060796/referendum-outcomes-look-done-and-dusted?cid=app-iPhone

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