There are an estimated 60,000 New Zealanders based in the United Kingdom at this moment in time. The Oceanic nation has a once in a generation opportunity to open up the door to drug policy reform by voting yes in the upcoming cannabis referendum, due to take place on October 17th.
In little under two months time New Zealand will become the first country to hold a referendum to decide whether they will implement a tightly regulated, legal cannabis market. The polling has the result on a knife-edge, so we interviewed former New Zealand Helen Clark to find out how Kiwis in the United Kingdom can shift the balance in favour of the yes vote.
In a wide ranging interview hosted by Volteface Director of Policy Liz McCulloch, Helen gives an update on what has been happening Down Under. In this piece, we cover ground including how the model has been carefully tailored to the benefit of New Zealanders, how this referendum came to be and what the outcomes of a Yes vote would be.
You can watch the full interview here.
Kiwi living in the United Kingdom?
If you are a Kiwi living in the United Kingdom, it is very easy to enrol by following this link. Enrolment is open now!
You can enrol and vote from overseas if all the following statements are true:
- you are 18 years or older
- you’ve lived in New Zealand for more than 12 months continuously at some time in your life
- you are one of the following:
- a New Zealand citizen who’s visited New Zealand within the last 3 years
- a New Zealand permanent resident who’s visited New Zealand within the last 12 months.
Don’t forget to enrol to vote by using this link. If you know a New Zealander living in the United Kingdom then don’t forget to share this information. With polling too close to call, the 60,000 UK-based Kiwis could tip the balance in favour of a yes vote, following the example of Canada, Uruguay and 11 US states that have all taken the regulated market plunge.
If you would like to find out more information about the New Zealand cannabis referendum, check out these great resources from New Zealand Drug Foundation.
Don’t forget to Vote Yes on October 17th!
This piece was written by Ant Lehane, Senior Communications Officer at Volteface (Tweets @antlehane). The video interview was undertaken by Liz McCulloch (@Liz_McCll), Director of Policy at Volteface.
N.B. the date of the referendum was changed to October 17th after filming and is noted on the video.