Two tough questions

NEW Zealand has just held its general elections with Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party winning strongly. At the same time New Zealanders were asked two tough questions which would affect laws in their country.

The first was to legalise euthanasia or not and the second was to legalise recreational cannabis or not.

The euthanasia law was passed with 65.2 per cent of voters saying yes to legalise euthanasia under certain conditions.

The question to legalize cannabis failed to pass with 46 per cent saying yes and 53 per cent saying no.

A couple of things to note. First, they even asked the question of legalising recreational cannabis. I believe New Zealand is the first country in the world to ask its people if they wanted to legalise recreational cannabis by way of referendum.

Secondly, medical marijuana is already legal in New Zealand. On December 18, 2018, the Misuse of Drugs Act was amended, allowing for much broader use of medical marijuana, making the drug available to terminally ill patients in the last 12 months of life.

And finally, 46 per cent said yes. According to Wikipedia, that’s 1,114,485 people who said yes. Over one million one hundred thousand people said yes.

That’s more than the entire population of Fiji. And all this happened under Jacinda’s watch. What prime minister would allow such a referendum in the first place let alone make it public and official, that just under half of everyone in New Zealand thinks people should not go to jail for something they consume responsibly.

Well, apparently one who has led her party to a historic win. This is our nextdoor neighbour.

The winds of change are always blowing, some people build windmills some people build walls. I guess that’s just the way the world is.

RUSSELL FONG

Raiwai, Suva