Former Prime Minister Helen Clark says she'd never hire a sex worker, but that's no reason to ban others from doing so.
And she says the same logic should apply to cannabis.
"There's all sorts of things I don't like - I don't want to pass a law against them," she told filmmaker Stephen McDowell in a lengthy, wide-ranging interview posted on his Instagram channel on Sunday.
Clark, who led the country between 1999 and 2008 and was once in the running to head the United Nations, is now a passionate campaigner for drug reform. She's backing the 'yes' vote in the upcoming referendum on whether New Zealand should legalise recreational use of the drug.
"When I was Prime Minister, we passed a law to decriminalise sex work? A) I wouldn't be a sex worker, B) I would never hire a sex worker. But do I want to prosecute a person who uses a sex worker? No.
"Consenting adults should be free to do things that don't hurt others. We need to be not morally judgemental as a society. Give people the credit for being able to make their own decisions and give people the information they need to know what it is they're doing."
New Zealand decriminalised sex work in 2003, with the Prostitution Reform Act. One of the country's leading fighters for reform, Catherine Healy, was made a dame in 2018 for her efforts which led to the changes.
Like prostitution and previous attempts to ban alcohol, Clark says prohibition doesn't work - calling it a "gift to organised crime".
"When humans want something, they're going to get it. And when there's a need, there will be a response, right? If it's not available through licensed premises, it will come through crime."
At 70 and with "asthma allergy type things", Clark says she wouldn't smoke cannabis - but would consider eating it.
"If it's totally legal, I'd be looking at whether there was anything that was available that might be of interest... I was talking to someone recently who'd eaten a cannabis-infused apple pie somewhere it was legal. She said it tasted pretty good."
But with no way to get it legally here in Aotearoa, and not having any close friends who toke, she's left - excuse the pun - high and dry.
"If you took me back over half a century when I was a student, of course I'd say yes I did know people who used it. But at 70, no... but it is widespread."
McDowell is also campaigning for the 'yes' vote, recently making a short film - Grass Roots: The Reality of Legalisation - documenting his travels in the US, where it's now legal. It too can be viewed on Instagram, where he goes by the handle 'thebuzzykiwi'.
