Billionaires dominate pot fight

by Reid Wilson - 10/27/16 6:00 AM ET

The growing national debate over whether to liberalize marijuana laws is being bankrolled by a handful of billionaires and millionaires.

Five states are set on Election Day to decide whether to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes, while another four will vote on whether to allow marijuana use for medicinal purposes.

{mosads}In California, former Facebook executive and Napster founder Sean Parker has contributed $8.5 million toward Proposition 64, which would legalize marijuana for recreational use. The Fund for Policy Reform, a political vehicle of the billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros, has contributed another $4.1 million.

In Florida, where voters will decide whether to amend the state constitution to allow marijuana for medicinal purposes, trial attorney John Morgan’s firm has contributed nearly half — $2.6 million — of the money supporters have raised.

Ballot measures allowing recreational pot use in Maine and Massachusetts have been bankrolled by the Marijuana Policy Project and the New Approach PAC, both longtime advocates of the liberalization movement. The two measures have also received $100,000 each from Rick Steves, the travel writer.

The Marijuana Policy Project, funded in part by Soros and his various foundations, has also been the largest donor to legalization ballot measures in Arizona and Nevada.

A whopping 40 percent of the money raised by opponents of legal marijuana, on the other hand, has come from one source: Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate and conservative activist.

Adelson, a long-time foe of marijuana liberalization laws, has contributed $2 million to the opposition campaign in Nevada; $500,000 to the cause in Arizona; $1 million in Massachusetts; and $1.5 million in Florida.

All told, Adelson has contributed $5 million to defeat marijuana measures on the 2016 ballot, out of a total of $12.5 million those campaigns have raised. California is the only state in which Adelson has not invested.

Spokespeople for Adelson did not return several requests for comment. But opponents of legalizing marijuana said the Las Vegas billionaire has been integral in their efforts to beat back a nationwide push — which, they point out, is funded largely by other billionaires.

“This is a case of someone who’s been touched very deeply by drug abuse, and who happens to be a billionaire,” said Kevin Sabet, a legalization opponent and director of the University of Florida’s Drug Policy Institute. “We have one. They have three or four. I still think we’re losing in the billionaire department.”

Adelson was also the largest donor against a Florida measure to allow medical marijuana in 2014, when he spent $5.5 million. Adelson’s wife, Miriam, has founded several drug-treatment clinics.

Marijuana legalization supporters have raised $33 million across the five states where legalization initiatives will be on the ballot this year and for Florida’s medical marijuana amendment. Parker is the largest single donor, though groups funded by Soros and Peter Lewis, the late chairman of Progressive Insurance who died in 2013, have spent millions as well.

Supporters point to national polls that show most Americans favor liberalizing marijuana laws. Mega-donors, they say, just help spread their message in key states.

“Thousands of people across the country are teaming up to make small donations to help end prohibition and, just like with any other issue in American politics, we also rely on gifts from high-net-worth philanthropists who want to utilize the fruits of their personal success to help advance social justice,” said Tom Angell, a legalization activist who heads Marijuana Majority.

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Polls show legalization campaigns leading by healthy margins in states where it will appear on November’s ballot. A Public Policy Institute of California and a Field Poll both showed 60 percent of Golden State voters backing legal pot. Polls out of Massachusetts and Maine show slight majorities favoring legal pot.

A Morrison poll conducted for the Arizona Republic and Cronkite News, released last week, showed 50 percent of Arizona voters favor Proposition 205. Forty-two percent were opposed.

Nevada’s ballot measure is perhaps the most closely fought in the nation this year. Forty-seven percent told pollsters working for the Adelson-owned Las Vegas Review-Journal that they support Question 2, which would legalize marijuana, in a poll released Wednesday. Forty-three percent opposed the measure.