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Campaign To Legalize Marijuana is Flush with Cash
Posted by CN Staff on November 02, 2016 at 05:35:23 PT
By Patrick McGreevy
Source: Los Angeles Times
Sacramento -- Ativist billionaires Sean Parker and George Soros and companies hoping to profit from legalizing marijuana in California have helped this year’s campaign for Proposition 64 raise close to $16 million, about four times the amount spent on a failed effort in 2010.With a week left before voters go to the polls, the campaign to legalize recreational marijuana use is leading in surveys and has a massive fundraising lead over the opposition, which has brought in a little more than $1.6 million.
Observers say the outpouring of cash for the initiative is, in part, due to recognition by the national movement against marijuana prohibition that this may be the best chance in years to pass legalization in California, which could spark similar changes in other states.One reason: The presidential election may draw more younger, liberal voters. In addition, legalization proponents who have differed on approach in the past have come together this year to support Proposition 64.“We have broad support from a generous coalition of donors who care deeply about social justice because they know you can’t end the failed war on marijuana in America without ending it in California first,” said Jason Kinney, a spokesman for the Proposition 64 campaign.But money is also flowing to the campaign because legalization in California would generate large profits for the industry, according to Jack Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College.“Legal marijuana is no longer a pipe dream: It's an investment,” Pitney said. “Public opinion has shifted strongly in favor of legalization, and the smart money is following the people.”Proposition 64 would allow Californians who are 21 and older to possess, transport and use up to an ounce of cannabis for recreational purposes and allow individuals to grow as many as six plants.The measure would also impose a 15% tax on retail sales of the drug. Similar legalization measures are on ballots this year in Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada and Arizona.A web of eight campaign committees, including New Approach PAC and Californians for Responsible Marijuana Reform, has emerged to support Proposition 64, with millions of dollars from out of state moving from one account to another in a way that makes it difficult for voters to track who is bankrolling the effort.The biggest individual donor, by far, is former Facebook presidentParker, who has contributed $8.5 million to the cause through various committees. Parker has declined interview requests, but Kinney said the tech entrepreneur sees the initiative as a social justice issue and California as a key state in which to end criminalization.“It’s never been about him — it’s about the thousands of lives ruined and the billions of dollars wasted by the failed war on drugs,” Kinney said. Parker has “no current nor future interest in the commercial marijuana industry,” the spokesman added.Another $4 million has been contributed by a nonprofit called the Fund for Policy Reform to a group called Drug Policy Action in support of Proposition 64.When asked where the money originated, Drug Policy Action confirmed that it came from Soros, the New York hedge fund billionaire. Representatives declined a request for comment from Soros.“Our marijuana laws are clearly doing more harm than good,” Soros wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street JournaI in 2010, the last time California considered legalization.Others opposed to criminalization of marijuana possession and who have contributed to Proposition 64 include Henry van Ameringen, a New York-based heir to fragrance company International Flavors & Fragrance, and Daniel Lewis, a retiree tied to the Progressive insurance company. Each donated $1.25 million to Proposition 64.Lewis and van Ameringen contributed through a committee called New Approach PAC, which is also active in other states, and have no other investments in the marijuana industry, according to Graham Boyd, head of the political action committee.“These are philanthropists who have been involved in social justice work for years,” Boyd said. “They come from a place of really believing that regulating and controlling and taxing marijuana is a better policy than arresting and incarcerating people.”The initiative campaign is also getting large amounts of money from companies that may profit from legalization.They include:— $1.75 million from a committee funded by Weedmaps, a website that helps marijuana users find cannabis storefronts, doctors and deals.— $250,000 from Nicholas Pritzker, who is chairman of Tao Capital Partners, a major investor in MJ Freeway, a firm providing software to help the legal marijuana industry track and report on its product. He is also former CEO of the Hyatt hotels firm.— $50,000 from Privateer Holdings, a Seattle company that invests in marijuana products and services, including the official Bob Marley brand of cannabis, and Leafly, which provides news articles on the cannabis industry and information on strains and products.Those donors appear to be investing contributions now in hopes of cashing in on a new industry later, said Andrew Acosta, a spokesman for the campaign against Proposition 64.“Much of the money coming into Prop. 64 is not about social justice,” Acosta said. “It is a business investment for the industry to crack into the California market.”Kinney, the spokesman for the initiative campaign, disputed the opposition.“As the opposition well knows, the vast majority of our funding comes from organizations and individuals who care deeply about social justice and ending the failed war on marijuana and have zero interest whatsoever in the marijuana industry,” Kinney said.California’s measure has such strong support and is so flush with cash that the campaign here recently transferred $35,000 to the effort to legalize pot in Nevada.The opposition has largely been funded by a Virginia group called Smart Approaches to Marijuana Action Inc., an anti-legalization group founded by former Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy and others.The group has collected $1.3 million so far from Pennsylvania activist Juliet F. Schauer, a retired art professor, to fight drug legalization measures in various states and has spent $489,000 in California so far.Schauer, whose family made money in the banking industry, declined to be interviewed, but a representative said she is concerned about the effects of strong marijuana and the industry’s resistance to cap its potency in Colorado.“She certainly is concerned with the harm of marijuana,” said Kevin A. Sabet, president of SAM.Schauer has said on social media that she believes marijuana is linked to paranoia, psychosis and violence. The National Institute on Drug Abuse says studies have linked marijuana use to “increased risk for psychiatric disorders, including psychosis (schizophrenia), depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders, but whether and to what extent it actually causes these conditions is not always easy to determine.”Law enforcement groups concerned about the spread of drug use and drugged driving have made up most of the rest of the money for the opposition campaign.Those giving $25,000 each include the California Assn. of Highway Patrolmen and the Peace Officers Research Assn. of California, while the California Police Chiefs Assn. has contributed $20,000.Even so, Pitney said it is not surprising the opposition campaign is not getting more financial help from those who oppose marijuana legalization.“They read the polls, too,” he said.Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) Author: Patrick McGreevyPublished: November 2, 2016Copyright: 2016 Los Angeles TimesContact: letters latimes.comWebsite: http://www.latimes.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/5lxOPaMICannabisNews  -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on November 03, 2016 at 11:28:36 PT
Comment 2 patrioticdissension
Thank you for sharing your experience. That's wonderful. I hear the grateful truth and the profound relief in your story. People that can think can hear what you're saying.A prohibitionist, tied up and tangled up so securely in what they are are so sure they "Know"... will immediately refuse to even consider what you are saying is true. Saying it's just anecdotal is their way of ignoring truths like yours. They can't think of, or even imagine themselves considering it, because they are totally bound, literally, rigidly bound in place by their dogma.
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on November 02, 2016 at 10:41:20 PT
Comment #2
Thank You for sharing Your experience. People around the globe have benefited from the superplant.
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Comment #2 posted by patrioticdissension on November 02, 2016 at 10:24:40 PT:
RE: THE GCW
"“increased risk for psychiatric disorders, including psychosis (schizophrenia), depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders, but whether and to what extent it actually causes these conditions is not always easy to determine.” WRONG instead of cannabis causing any of these conditions it actually helps treat them. in the case of schizophrenia cannabis is a safe and well tolerated atypical antipsychotic source : http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=s0100-879x2006000400001&script=sci_arttext
source 2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22716160
for depression source https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15964704 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15964704
and anxiety source https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24923339   . Until i turned 14 i used to have a terrible temper and some people thought i was kinda psycho the day i smoked cannabis the first time changed my life forever. for the first time ever i felt what it was like to just let go of my anger toward all the people that treated me bad at school and i decided i wanted to become a different person from then on. i no longer got angry my grades went up i received a most improved student award. i used to go to the principles office about 1 once a week but after smoking pot the first time i never got in any trouble again and graduated while earning a college level IT certification CompTIA A+ at the same time something my old middle school principle said i could never do. this woman honestly thought i was the devil. she told the school board at an expulsion hearing in middle school that i was going to be the next columbine shooter. luckily the board president knew about my autism and add pretty well and told the principle to sit down and shut up! or she was fired!. anyway thought cannabis has changed my life for the better forever . even when I dont have cannabis for long periods of time cannabis has tought me to be a better more caring more understanding, wiser, gentler person.
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on November 02, 2016 at 07:10:33 PT
TRUTH, cannabis PROHIBITION's linked to paranoia 
Schauer has said on social media that she believes marijuana is linked to paranoia, psychosis and violence. The National Institute on Drug Abuse says studies have linked marijuana use to “increased risk for psychiatric disorders, including psychosis (schizophrenia), depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders, but whether and to what extent it actually causes these conditions is not always easy to determine.”The truth is: cannabis PROHIBITION, is linked to paranoia, psychosis and violence...-0- “Much of the money coming into Prop. 64 is not about social justice,” Acosta said. “It is a business investment for the industry to crack into the California market.”Another truth;The people spending money to fight RE-legalization are interested in it as a BUSINESS INVESTMENT!Why the hell do cops & THEIR UNIONS care??? -otherwise???-0-EXPOSED: cannabis prohibition is for goons.
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