Acceptance of marijuana has been growing in New Zealand with last year’s numbers by the New Zealand Drug Foundation poll finding that 65% are in support of legalizing personal possession of the drug.
Politicians in the country have made a promise to hold a nation-wide vote on legalizing recreational marijuana by the year 2020.
Ross Bell, director of the Drug Foundation, said to the New Zealand Herald, “A regulated approach will usher in controls on quality, price, and availability of cannabis, along with more education, prevention and treatment. The public gets this. Why don’t our political leaders?”
New Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party has committed to holding the marijuana referendum.
With both the Labour Party and Greens working together, the drug has support from a majority of the parliament.
Justice Minister Andrew Little however has said in response to no marijuana legislation yet, “We simply haven’t got anywhere near that, I think it’s about getting the mechanics of the referendum sorted, then I think obviously some discussions around scope and maybe some options there.”
He added that timing “would be no earlier than late 2019.”
