US Elections – less drug friendly, more pro life than you’re told

The untold story of the US election is the rejection of a number of special ballots held in some states regarding abortion, euthanasia and the legalisation of dope.

In the recent US election, there were a number of state-specific ballots regarding abortion, cannabis and euthanasia. Let’s have a look at the results because if you listened to the media, you would think that all these ballots would have succeeded with massive majorities.

Guess what – they didn’t.

EUTHANASIA

The state of West Virginia passed a constitutional amendment banning assisted suicide in that state.

Yes – banning it.

What’s significant is that there have been previous failures to legalise assisted suicide in deep-blue states like Maryland, New York, Connecticut, and Delaware.

This is a great sign – especially given the rapid expansion of euthanasia in Canada to now include killing people with dementia.

Currently, euthanasia is allowed in 10 states and in Washington, D.C.

ABORTION

In ten states, referendums asked voters whether they supported amending their state constitutions to establish a right to abortion.

According to a report in the Christian Post:

Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, which found that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee a right to abortion, several states have enacted pro-life protections, restricting abortion to the earliest weeks of pregnancy or instituting near-total bans. In response, some states held referendums in both 2022 and 2023, asking voters if they want to establish a right to abortion in their state constitutions. The referendums passed in all four states, ranging from the deep blue states of California and Vermont to the swing state of Michigan and the red state of Ohio. 

This year, voters in nine states weighed in on similar measures: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada and South Dakota. Voters in a tenth state, New York, decided the fate of an Equal Rights Amendment that would amend the state constitution to add “gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare [abortion] and autonomy” to a list of characteristics passed under state law. 

So what were the results?

In Florida, unlike the other states with such a measure on the ballot, Amendment 4 needed to secure the support of 60% of voters. It fell short of that threshold by securing the support of 57% of voters, marking the first time since the Dobbs decision that a referendum to establish a state constitutional right to abortion failed. With the failure of Amendment 4, Florida’s six-week abortion ban will remain in effect. 

Nice. Go Florida.

According to a report by FirstThings.com

The pro-life movement was dramatically outspent in these battles, yet won nevertheless. According to Ballotpedia, pro-abortionists spent a whopping $118 million in Florida alone and still lost. Countless lives will be saved because of these three outcomes—and these states, along with others that significantly protect prenatal justice, will be able to demonstrate in the coming years that there is nothing inconsistent with restricting abortion and having positive health outcomes for women.

Nebraska and South Dakota also rejected their pro-abortion ballot measures. In fact, Nebraska was interesting because it had two ballots. One pro abortion and another to prohibit abortions after the first trimester. Yes – just first trimester. 13 weeks! But the prohibition of abortions got 55% support but the pro-abortion one only got 51%. So the pro-lifers one.

South Dakota’s right to abortion failed by a nearly 2-1 margin.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser responded by saying

“We celebrate the lives that will be saved with the defeat of pro-abortion ballot measures in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota. The pro-life states of Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota have disrupted abortion activists’ track record, showing the path forward is to fight for life following the examples of Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Pete Ricketts and Rep. Dusty Johnson. When GOP leaders engage, extreme abortion ballot measures fail because they are exposed for what they are and fear-mongering lies are refuted. Republicans must be as devoted as DeSantis to explain how these measures allow abortion until birth and take away parental rights.”

However the news wasn’t good for the other seven states.

The amendment in New York doesn’t specifically mention abortion but prohibits discrimination based on “pregnancy outcomes” and “reproductive healthcare and autonomy.”

So woke.

New York is already a haven for abortion, which is accessible through all nine months of pregnancy.

Christian Post says:

While Colorado, Maryland, Montana and Nevada already had few or no pro-life protections prior to the passage of the pro-abortion amendments, abortion policy will change dramatically in Arizona and Missouri as a result of Tuesday’s vote. Arizona is expected to see its 15-week abortion ban reversed, while Missouri’s near-total abortion ban will experience a similar fate. 

But here’s the bit that fascinated me. Many of the ballots would guarantee a right to abortion – BUT only until fetal viability, and allow it later only for the health of the pregnant woman.

That is far more conservative than New Zealand’s law which allows for abortion to full term – 40 weeks. The only restriction on late term abortions is that you need the approval of not one abortionist but two. Yep – that’s what the law says. The media and the pro-abortion politicians won’t admit that – but that’s the effect of the new expansive law that mother Jacinda Ardern championed through Parliament as part of her shameful legacy.

For example, Missouri voted to enshrine the right to an abortion up to the point of viability. That’s around 22-23 weeks. It’s still far too late – and still very wrong – but it’s more conservative than NZ’s extreme law.

Nevada & Montana also talk about viability.

On the other hand, Colorado and Maryland are very similar to NZ’s extremist law.

So here’s a summary

Blue is where the right to abortion has been voted for

Purple is where abortion was rejected

Green is where a pro life measure was voted for

And orange is Nevada. Abortion was voted for but there has to be another vote in 2026 to ratify it.

The commentary from FirstThings.com concludes

A firehose of abortion disinformation has doused the American people since Dobbs—spurred by huge money, corrupt media, feckless politicians, and compromised medical and academic communities that don't permit meaningful dissent. The result of this has been—let’s face it—a massive, cultural-shifting marvel. But, on the other hand, an entire campaign that tried to build itself around this pro-abortion energy failed spectacularly. The population cannot be more misinformed about abortion than it is right now—and still about four in ten Americans identify as pro-life.

Trump has outsourced the future of MAGA to JD Vance—a man who, despite some disappointing compromises during the 2024 campaign, is deeply pro-life and supportive of social programs for women and families.

The author who is a professor of medical humanities at the Creighton University School of Medicine concludes:

[W]e must not backtrack in the slightest when it comes to lifting up the reality of the vulnerable prenatal child. Our pro-abortion opponents have worked hard and smart to erase her reality from the national conversation. They have shown us no quarter in mounting such attacks and, again, have been largely successful: Our public discourse on abortion is almost totally disconnected from what abortion actually is. With that in mind, we must re-teach the culture in part by prudently, respectfully, but unapologetically employing victim imagery. We must subvert our throwaway culture's attempt to hide the reality of abortion.

CANNABIS

Don’t tell the Drug Foundation, the Green Party or the media, but voters are increasingly waking up to the negative effects of legalising dope.

Prior to this election, 24 states had legalised recreational marijuana, with Ohio voters doing so most recently in November 2023.

According to a report from our colleagues in the US – SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana) –

November 5, 2024, marked an historic night for the movement to oppose the legalization and commercialization of mind-altering substances. In the four states that voted on recreational drug use, all four rejected the industry-backed proposals, favouring policies that prioritize public health and safety. 

In Florida, voters defeated Amendment 3, which would have legalised recreational marijuana in the Sunshine State. This is especially notable, given that the marijuana industry spent more than $150 million in support of legalisation. 

That sounds like NZ and the stacked odds against us.

Even though 56% voted for legalisation, the threshold is 60% so it failed.

Voters in North Dakota and South Dakota both rejected legalising dope. For both states, it was the third time they’ve had this vote – yet the pro-drug side still can’t win.

Nebraska did approve medicinal marijuana – but that’s not recreational use.

Massachusetts, where cannabis is already legal, looked to legalize psychedelics. Question 4, which would have decriminalised the possession of psychedelic substances and legalised their supposed therapeutic use, had 57.0% of voters reject this proposition.

Massachusetts could have become the third state to legalise psychedelic mushrooms, after Oregon and Colorado.

[By the way, physician-assisted suicide is legal in both Oregon and Colorado, as is recreational cannabis. Good states to avoid.]

You may be asking – what’s this about “psychedelic mushrooms”.

Let me read you a short piece from Luke Niforatos from SAM:

Now, the profit-driven industry is thinking even bigger, pushing to legalize psychedelics including “magic mushrooms” and stronger drugs. To do it, the industry has again opened the old playbook to advance the notion that these drugs are actually therapeutic.

It’s a business model built around the normalization of more people using more drugs at higher doses to fuel greater profits.

For drug legalizers, it has never been about science or the data or how many people are harmed. It’s always about the money.

Psychedelics include LSD, ecstasy, psilocybin (magic mushrooms), PCP and others that cause a person to “hallucinate and feel an extreme sense of euphoria.” Use of psychedelics alters the brain and perceptions of reality. It can result in significant psychological, emotional, and physical damage, particularly for young people, those with mental health issues, and people struggling with substance use disorders. Recent research on psychedelics showed a connection to “cases of manic behavior.” Other dangerous side effects include seizures, heart attacks, high blood pressure, and comas.

Following the legalization of marijuana in 2014, Oregon passed Measure 110 in 2020, which decriminalized the possession of all drugs, including fentanyl, heroin, meth, and cocaine. Advocates claimed it would get more people into treatment. The policy experiment has been a resounding failure. Less than one percent of individuals have entered treatment, and opioid deaths in Oregon have continued to increase, outpacing the national average.

In Colorado, the first state to legalize marijuana, Proposition 122 was funded by the industry to commercialize psychedelics, including psilocybin, DMT, mescaline, and ibogaine.

In California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Nevada, and Massachusetts, there are efforts now underway to legalize psychedelics and increase their use, all following the legalization of marijuana.

It should be no surprise that the playbook for psychedelics follows that used for marijuana. The same corporate and marketing executives who told us marijuana was medicine are now heralding psychedelics as the next big thing.

But none of these are wonder drugs. None will provide tax revenue to close budget gaps. None will make communities safer or give our youth a greater chance to succeed.

By the way, the campaign has been going on in NZ for a while.

Here’s some stories from 1News. These extreme drugs can apparently break meth addictions, help depression and even stop alcoholism. Wow. A miracle drug.

Can it help people parallel park at shopping centres as well?

The NZ Herald reckons it can treat addiction and mental health issues, and we need greater awareness and understanding for those using them “medicinally”. And the NZ Druggie Foundation says “It is shocking” that an illegal drug is resulting in people being charged because it’s illegal.

I know!! Shocking.

Remember we’re referring to drugs such as LSD and ecstasy. Not a toasted mushroom sandwich.

But there’s the update on the ballots.

Oh – one other. California. Guess what – they’ve had a gutsful of liberal offender-friendly wet bus ticket punishments for people who commit crimes. How surprising.

According to AP news:

Frustrated with what they see as rampant retail crimes, voters approved an initiative making shoplifting a felony for repeat offenders again and increasing penalties for some drug charges, including those involving the synthetic opioid fentanyl. The tough-on-crime ballot measure also gives judges the authority to order people with multiple drug charges to get treatment.

The measure partly rolls back a progressive law passed by voters in 2014 that downgraded several nonviolent crimes to misdemeanors, including theft under $950 in value and some drug offenses. The reversal reflects widespread anger among voters who are increasingly pinning the blame for homelessness and retail theft on criminal justice reform and progressive district attorneys.

Tough on crime. Wow – what a great idea. The social experiment of liberalism is dying – and not before its time.

So there we have it.

Not a perfect outcome by far.

But Americans are slowly but surely waking up to liberal policies which harm families and communities.

Not voting for Kamala was probably the best outcome though.

Her defeat confirmed that pro-abortion extremism isn’t the winning message she thought it would be.