NZ Herald 6 October 2020
Our additional comment: SayNopeToDope’s Aaron Ironside said there was “no place for being complacent” with less than two weeks until voting day. “We want people to be informed. This is an evidence-based campaign. If cannabis is legalised, more cannabis will be used than ever and more young people will be exposed to cannabis. We still are finding out that people think we’re talking about medicinal cannabis and only when people look at the effects of legalisation in other countries, they see that they don’t want to open Pandora’s box.”
The cannabis referendum is on a knife-edge, with a new poll suggesting voters are narrowly leaning towards a yes vote.
A new poll released by the Helen Clark Foundation and the New Zealand Drug Foundation this morning shows 49 per cent of respondents support the legislation, while 45 per cent oppose it.
When those who responded “unsure” were asked which way they were leaning, a further 2 per cent leaned in favour of voting for legalising recreational use of cannabis.
The results differ with a recent Colmar Brunton poll, released on September 26, which showed support for the legislation was going up in smoke.
TVNZ’s Colmar Brunton poll saw just 35 per cent of respondents saying they supported the bill, with 53 per cent of respondents opposed.
And the latest Newshub Reid-Research, released six days ago, showed just 37.9 per cent of responders in favour of the legislation, compared to the 50.5 per cent against it.
However Say Nope to Dope spokesman Aaron Ironside says UMR poll’s results were a far cry from the sentiments he’s seen over the past two years.
“It’s going against the trend of the national polls and our internal polling, which show a large gap between those in favour and those against, with a large majority against the legislation,” he said.
Ironside said there was “no place for being complacent” with less than two weeks until voting day.
“We want people to be informed,” he said.
“This is an evidence-based campaign. If cannabis is legalised, more cannabis will be used than ever and more young people will be exposed to cannabis.
“We still are finding out that people think we’re talking about medicinal cannabis and only when people look at the effects of legalisation in other countries, they see that they don’t want to open Pandora’s box.”
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