Kyle Jaeger, writing for Marijuana Moment:
New Zealand voters have rejected a referendum to legalize marijuana, final results released by the government on Friday show.
While polls closed on October 17, New Zealand does not complete its count for ballot questions on Election Day. Preliminary results published last month showed the measure trailing by a notable margin, but so-called “special votes” still had to be counted before the outcome was finalized.
Those roughly 480,000 remaining votes did not move the needle far enough in favor of reform, however, the final data released by the government on Friday afternoon local time showed.
The referendum ended up falling short by a 48.4 percent in favor to 50.7 percent against margin.
Although drug policy reform in America is really on a roll at the moment, apparently voters in New Zealand aren’t quite ready to legalize cannabis at a national level yet.