On Thursday 3 News political editor Patrick Gower asked MPs if they would vote to decriminalise cannabis and whether they have smoked cannabis – MPs and marijuana – politicians’ views on decriminalising pot.
Would you vote to decriminalise cannabis?
- Paula Bennett (National, Waitakere): No
- Peter Dunne (UnitedFuture, Ohariu): No
- Mark Mitchell (National, Rodney): I definitely wouldn’t vote to decriminalise it.
- Metiria Turei (Greens, list): Yes
- Tau Henare (National, list): It’s illegal to smoke dope now, but it’s really easy to get Kronic. Work that one out.
- Claudette Hauiti (National, list): ignored question.
- Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi (National, list): I can’t answer that, I’m all getting late.
- Sue Moroney (Labour, list): I’d be prepared to consider it in the context of wider drug law reform.
- Eric Roy (National, Invercargill): No I wouldn’t.
- Annette King (Labour, Rongatai): Probably not.
- Andrew Williams (NZ First, list): I haven’t even thought about it myself.
- Gareth Hughes (Greens, list): You know I used to work for Greenpeace, sailed in the Rainbow Warrior so what do you expect, and that’s why I support decriminalisation.
- Phil Heatley (National, Whangarei): No.
No – 5
Probably not – 1
Yes – 2
Consider it or possible – 2
Wouldn’t say – 3
Have you smoked cannabis?
- Paula Bennett (National, Waitakere): certainly not a no.
- Peter Dunne (UnitedFuture, Ohariu): yes
- Mark Mitchell (National, Rodney): maybe when I was 16 or 17.
- Metiria Turei (Greens, list): Yes
- Richard Prosser (NZ First, list) made faces and pretended he didn’t hear the question. Then he responded: Have you? Asked again: I don’t think I’ve got an answer to that question. After further questioning he kept avoiding answering, until when pressed he finally admitted: Yeah, I have.
- Tau Henare (National, list): Yeah.
- Eric Roy (National, Invercargill): Never.
- Gareth Hughes (Greens, list): Yeah I’ve smoked cannabis. You know I used to work for Greenpeace, sailed in the Rainbow Warrior so what do you expect…
- Christopher Finlayson (National, list): No
- Catherine Delahunty (Greens, list): Yes
- Annette King (Labour, Rongatai):Yes I did.
- Jonathan Young (National, New Plymouth): No I don’t, obviously haven’t.
- Todd McClay (National, Rotorua) I have in my younger days.
- Phil Heatley (National, Whangarei):Never commented on it, never will.
Your NZ 
Zedd
/ 21st April 2014Its interesting that about 50% of kiwis (in many surveys) admit trying cannabis & about 20-25% say they use it in varying degrees.. BUT nearly all MPs, either say “NO !” or refuse to answer. Is this honesty or ‘politicking’ ?
Most recent TV poll; 84% say ‘time to decrim. ‘marijuana’
Pete George
/ 21st April 2014It does look like MPs are out of step with public views.
But the Campbell Live poll (84%) is not a reliable poll, it was self selecting and promoted to people with an interest in the issue.
See http://www.politicheck.org.nz/factchecks/2014/4/19/campbell-live-cannabis-poll
The most legitimate recent poll is this one from UMR:
We re-asked this question in July 2013 (again with a survey of n=1000 New Zealanders), which showed a small change in attitudes.
17% now want marijuana fully legalised
46% now want it decriminalised
35% believe that it should remain illegal.
2% are now unsure.
The proportion favouring a softening in the laws is therefore up from 59% to 63%.
http://sayit.co.nz/blog/marijuana-versus-synthetic-cannabis