NewsTalk ZB 2 November 2020
Family First Comment: Once again, Kate completely nails it…
“I found the pro-campaign heavily one sided. It was bolstered by the Drug Foundation and Helen Clark… all of whom put out endless amounts of information, or should I say misinformation – from it being about medicinal, to it coming out of the hands of gangs -which was never going to happen. There was a lot of propaganda peddled and I worried New Zealanders would fall for it if they didn’t do their own research. The preliminary results reassuringly show Kiwis didn’t fall for it.”
Well what a relief Friday was.
The right result in the cannabis referendum – although it’s preliminary and given how this year’s gone I wouldn’t rule anything out in terms of upsets or dramatic swings… it could still tip over to a yes with specials, but it’s a very very long shot.
Chloe says she’s proud of her campaign, but critics would argue she didn’t have one – apart from her appearing on every media platform she could. For a Greens backed referendum it probably needed more Greens than just her pushing it.
I found the pro-campaign heavily one sided. It was bolstered by the Drug Foundation and Helen Clark… all of whom put out endless amounts of information, or should I say misinformation – from it being about medicinal, to it coming out of the hands of gangs -which was never going to happen. There was a lot of propaganda peddled and I worried New Zealanders would fall for it if they didn’t do their own research. The preliminary results reassuringly show Kiwis didn’t fall for it. Although Chloe argues it’s on a knife edge – 53% to 46% is not a knife edge.. it’s a gap of 7 percent. She also lashed out at Jacinda Ardern for not stating which way she’d vote, that in some way the acolytes of Jacinda would’ve followed her like sheep if she’d promoted a yes vote. But the PM didn’t want to alienate centrist voters, she sat on the fence with it because that’s what populists do. Jacinda wanted to win votes more than she wanted to win the cannabis referendum and that’s the result she got.
Decriminalisation may’ve worked, but I think legalization was a bridge too far. I don’t know why we’d want to rush something as serious as this, I would’ve thought waiting to see how other countries go, would be the smart move. Why would we want our little nation to be guinea pigs for something as serious as drug reform?
READ MORE: https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/early-edition/opinion/kate-hawkesby-the-right-result-in-the-cannabis-referendum/
