Preliminary referendum results are out, showing that cannabis legalisation was defeated, 46.1% to 53.1%. There's a gap of almost 170,000 votes, and its highly unlikely that the specials will be that disproportionate (OTOH, they're probably a different electoral population, swinging younger and more liberal on this issue, but that's probably too big a gap to make up). The government has already indicated that it will "respect the result" of the referendum and that "recreational cannabis use will remain illegal in New Zealand", so we'll see the olds' pointless "war on drugs" and empowering of gangs continue for another three years at least.
(Oh, and Ardern has finally revealed that she voted "yes". So she wants to be on the right side of her voters, but at the same time was too chickenshit to come out and say it when it might have made a difference. Labour's lack of moral courage and its unwillingness to stand for anything or actually lead and convince us to follow strikes again!)
On the plus side, Death With Dignity passed in a landslide, so that will automatically become legal in November next year.
