Can we just pause and give Chloe a standing ovation for her incredible job standing up for cannabis reform?
She won every debate, she fronted every discussion and while ACT were too frightened to engage in case conservative Epsom voters turned on Seymour, Chloe never flinched.
Chloe’s last swipe at the bewildering philosophical cowardice of the Prime Minister to not stand by her convictions is glorious…
Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick swipes at Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for holding back cannabis view
Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick, who stood out in the campaign to legalise recreational cannabis, has taken a swipe at Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for holding back her view.Â
The Electoral Commission’s preliminary results show the majority of New Zealanders have voted against legalising recreational cannabis and questions have been raised over whether it could have gone the other way with Ardern’s support.Â
“I’m in the Greens because I have the courage of my convictions,” Swarbrick said on Friday, when asked if she thought the referendum could have swung in the ‘yes’ vote’s favour if Ardern had been open about her stance.Â
…Jacinda and Andrew Little should be ashamed with the speed they have ruled out any reform, preferring  to keep a racist law in place rather than  remove it.
Chloe has the political courage we wish Jacinda had.
Many respects also to The Hemp Store, Nandor, Chris Fowlie, NORML, Russel Brown, Helen Clarke and the NZ Drug foundation for getting us to this momentous position – we await the specials in anticipation only because of your mahi.
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It’s a grey area. Had Ardern publicly endorsed decriminalising marijuana, the media would have crucified her, and twisted it – that Amy Agnes-Mary Brooke person from Nelson had already whacked the PM, I think in some Australian published outlet , for being the sort of person just likely to support it – ergo an undesirable.
Ardern would have been criticised for trying to influence referendum outcome, and not unreasonably. Some say that her job is to lead the people, which she’s been good at in crises, but the government’s job – in theory anyway – is to reflect the wishes of the people. I don’t want any government telling me how to think.
SW
Ardern stuck to her principles.
We know she encouraged people to vote Labour and that is a political mandate she has by way of her party leadership.
The Cannabis referendum was not a political issue but one of testing the populations response to the referendum question.
Ardern’s role had to be one of allowing that to happen without direct influence which she did.
Whatever Chloe preferred to do is up to her and she chose to be a protagonist for the yes option. That is her choice. Chloe is not the PM.
I cast my vote hoping decriminalisation would eventuate and I think it still can. Little has been premature in his stated opinion, before the counting is complete. Little may regret his ill considered judgement on this non binding referendum.
“Little may regret his ill considered judgement on this non binding referendum”.. I have a sneaking suspicion you may be right there.. It constitutes the first really obvious misjudgement I can remember of his… It took about ten minutes or so to quell the rage I felt when I heard those words… Notwithstanding that, there were some areas of concern regarding the proposal, as laid out, that I had concerns with, and displayed a lack of depth, and looked more driven by commercial gain, than the health/justice/lifestyle driven economics, which I would have thought were paramount.. The fact that legalising cannabis makes good economic sense for society as a whole is simply a collateral bonus..
I agree Stefan.
If tobacco was a growth industry, if alcohol sales boomed and if cannabis use increased then the same sort of major health problem exists.
A Lack of education and incentive to live a more healthy life supportive to others and family.
Cannabis is rife in many areas and concentration of use tends to be in more depressed areas often with high unemployment.
The damage done to developing brains by cannabisis a growing epidemic as well as lung damage along with cardiovascular complication later in life being a similar legacy to that of tobacco.
Dependency creates further poverty for many smoker and cannabis if commercialised will have a similar effect for many.
But the big one is damage to the developing brain in teenage and young adult years.
Criminalisation is a horrific outcome for many youths and jail brings its own crushing consequences for young tortured minds.
I oppose criminalisation but would push for much more effective public education and counseling for health problems generally.
The myths about cannabis and tobacco not hurting anyone need to be dismissed as the evidence shows that is not true. Alcohol similarly but separately.
Little’s constant refrain throughout the RNZ interview I heard was that Labour said they would honour the referendum result, however close it was, and they will. If the specials shift the balance to 51% in favour, I expect he will say exactly the same thing, regardless of how the conservatives howl about 51% telling 49% what to do.
Adern and Little don’t know shame. As corporate players of the political game, and as self-serving liars, they don’t know ethics either. Yes, the both lie; Jacinda with a smile: Andrew with a frown.
They are only in power because National were (are) so off-the-planet and blatantly mendacious and incompetent.
So, WHO do you want to lead us, Afewknow??????
WHAT do you want to happen???
WHO would be better????
Judith Collins thoroughly deserves the election result she got for her politicising of the cannabis referendum. But do you really think Adern should have given in to Collins pathetic demands during the debate as to which way she was voting? There are a LOT of areas where the yes campaign failed, but Aderns voting position wasn’t one of them.
But if Adern & Little think they can sweep this issue under the rug then they are sadly mistaken, and it will cost them.
Yes I agree with you Stan this issue will not go away and putting it to a referendum was gutless to say the least. Our politicians are happy to make all the other hard decisions, gay marriage, abortion, locking us down, controlling immigration numbers and saying who can and can’t come into our country yet they back away from the cannabis issue. I see our PM wants to serve all NZers that will be hard. However if that is the case then she should start sorting the cannabis issue out asap. And she can start with our NZ Polices policies and their criminalising of Maori. I watched the debates on the Hui and Te Marae and I found an ex policemen objecting, and he is probably still wearing his police hat and a Anglican priest, who had no problem recognising discrimination in the euthanasia act but failed to recognise this very issue in how cannabis is being policed. I find many Christian people to be the biggest hypocrites too many are very judgmental. What happened to forgiving. I can see why so many of our Maori people have rejected Christianity as well as many NZers. Lastly you can take pills when you go to a concert and our new government is looking at setting up a testing regime, really! are they going to provide condoms too, ? can anyone see the hypocrisy?
If this labour government thinks it’s a good idea to ignore nearly 50% of the voting population and not create a billion dollar industry and jobs then they will collapse and loose the next election, we are walking into the greatest recession/ depression since the 1920’s , and to snub a boom industry is utter madness , the likes of Helius, Cannasouth and Ruabio won’t be holding back from rarking up the drones in the beehive
Even if she did not say it, I don’t think it was too hard to know which way Ardern was going to vote. But it was a game she did not need to play – it did not come across well in interviews or debates.
However, the fact that she kept the cannabis issue at arms length shows that she probably did not want the “Yes” vote to win. Internal polling was likely saying that it was close, so she didn’t want to push it over the line. If the “No” vote had a stronger lead, maybe she would have made her choice known.
Ardern would have been aware that there was a chance for Labour to govern alone, and she worked towards that. Sounding “pro-dope” in election year could have jeopardised that, so it became a issue she wasn’t going to fight for.
Like Helen White, Swarbrick can only hope that the special votes give her the result she wants.
I think Ardern said she voted “yes” after polls had closed but counting had not been done.
Jacinda has said she wants change that sticks, the cannabis debate is not over yet. Swarbrick has begun her ascent and may one day have her time at the top, however a long way for her to go yet.
Absolutely.
Surely the way ahead is co-operation, not competition, and certainly not conflict. Why create divisions when there is no need for this?
This girl has got guts. The Gangs and the Asian Crime Syndicates will be over the moon the legalization of cannabis has been defeated as it would affect the millions of $ they make in the illegal drug trade.
The NZMA’s early ‘no’ stance must have had an effect on early voting. The change to ‘neutral’ 4 days before the election was assuring. But the damage had been done.
n
Jacinda says she didnt take a stand because Labour doesn’t have a policy on harm reduction and drug reform.
Is that supposed to be an excuse because to me that’s insane.
Labour is one of the only partys of its kind in the world with zero policy on drug reform.
Zero. Canadas liberals and Trudeau led the issue, the NDP, the Democrats, uk Labour, just about every soc dem party in europe supports some form of drug reform and has policy Labour and national have no policy.
That’s just shocking. Utterly shocking.
It’s typical of nz to ignore the hard stuff
We’re going to have more and more and more referendums because Labour and National increasingly refuse to have any opinions on incredibly pressing issues.
This is no doubt the case which is why the Greens signing up to a deal to work under neo liberal Labour is so disappointing.
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