I want to talk about why I, as a deeply boring middle-class Pākehā woman who didn't even manage to get OFFERED a joint until she was twenty-seven, am going to vote yes on the cannabis referendum. (1/6)

1) I don't personally use pot, but I know plenty of people who do, and they are mostly middle-class Pākehā (like me), and have they ever suffered legal consequences for it? hahahahaha you jest. no. (2/6)

2) Has it ruined their lives b/c DRUGS? also no. They are all very 'respectable' and have settled jobs and family lives. For some of them alcohol has, quite frankly, been much more toxic. (3/6)

3) Meanwhile, hundreds of poor Māori and Pasifika people get slapped with severe legal consequences every year for doing the same thing people in my social circle are doing with zero consequences whatsoever. It's grossly racist and unfair. (4/6)

4) Prohibition has not stopped cannabis being widely used, largely for casual, harmless recreation. What it HAS done is given the State a tool to punish people for being poor and brown. (5/6)

5) We can do better and we owe it to all the people who have suffered because of drug laws to do better. If you want a fairer, more equitable, more realistic Aotearoa, vote yes on the cannabis referendum. (6/6)