New Zealanders change their minds and now prefer that marijuana remains illegal on the island
Marijuana is regulated in New Zealand by the Drug Abuse Act of 1975. According to the law, possession of any amount of marijuana is illegal. However, it is the illegal drug most consumed in this country. More than four million, 13.4% of people aged 16 to 64 consume cannabis.
The police try to reduce the supply of cannabis by arresting the sellers and growers. Planes patrol the skies across the country in search of crops to destroy them.
The people of New Zealand have the opportunity to vote on the legalization of marijuana in a referendum to be held at the same time as the general elections of the year 2020.
But according to the latest polls, it seems that 52% will vote no to the legalization of marijuana.
The survey, carried out by a prestigious sociology company, says that 39 percent do want to legalize cannabis. 8 percent say they do not know or do not want to respond. And 1% of the voters have indicated their intention not to vote.
The most prone to legalization are citizens between 18 and 34 years of age and, above all, the voters of the Green Party.
By contrast, New Zealanders more likely to vote against the legalization of cannabis are older than 55 and, in addition, voters of the National Party.
The spokesman of the Drug Foundation, Ross Bell, states that the problem for the legalization of cannabis is that there are too many erroneous myths and a lot of misinformation, which are negatively influencing the opinion of the voters.
Ross Bell attacks the government because he believes they are distorting the truth by saying that the referendum for the legalization of cannabis in New Zealand has nothing to do with the general elections.
He also believes that if New Zealand citizens received accurate information about the properties of marijuana, they would vote yes to its legalization.
On the contrary, Paula Bennett, of the National Party, expressed her joy at the results of the survey and believes that the New Zealand citizen will vote no to the legalization of marijuana because they know what they are doing. He also said that the legalization of cannabis goes against the government’s project to get a New Zealand completely smoke-free by 2025.
In contrast, the Green Party spokeswoman, Chloe Swarbrick, said the New Zealanders had a distorted vision of cannabis since all the information came from the prohibitionist system and that for that reason she had to develop a legal regulation.
Justice Minister Andrew Little has already published the terms of the referendum on the legalization of cannabis in 2020. The two options are very simple. The voter votes YES or NO.
Interestingly, the same company that conducted the survey on the legalization of cannabis in New Zealand, conducted another survey last year and the results were favorable to legalization. . 46% of New Zealanders were in favor of legalization, 41% were against it and 12% did not know or did not answer.
However, this latest survey in which the population is more favorable to not legalize cannabis, is made after the National Party leaked the details about the referendum, among which highlighted some issues about the negative results among drivers of vehicles.
More than $ 13 million has been allocated for the cannabis legalization referendum of the 2019 Budget.
Between June 4 and 8, 1002 potential voters were surveyed. It is estimated that the maximum error of the survey is approximately ± 3.1% points at the 95% confidence level.
This last survey asked potential voters the following question: ” Possible new laws would allow people 20 years of age or older to buy cannabis for recreational use. The laws would also control the sale and supply of cannabis. At this stage, do you think you will vote for cannabis to be legalized, or for cannabis to remain illegal? “
Currently, cannabis is heavily penalized in New Zealand. The fines range from $ 500 per possession to a period of 14 years in prison for sale or production.
In fact, the crop can end up being punished with a prison sentence that ranges from 7 years to 2 years, depending on the size of the crop. And the fines are rarely less than $ 2,000.
