Police Who Need Education on Drugs (PWNED)
Who’s funding Proposition 64?
Proposition 64 has raised more than $6.5 million from five sources:
• $2.27 million from Sean Parker, who co-founded Napster and was Facebook’s first president
• $1.75 million from Drug Policy Action, the advocacy arm of Drug Policy Alliance, which aims to end the war on drugs
• $1.5 million from the New Approach PAC, a legacy of Progressive insurance mogul Peter Lewis that supported Oregon’s 2014 marijuana legalization
• $750,000 from Irvine-based Weedmaps, a Yelp-style service for cannabis retailers founded by Justin Hartfield
• $250,000 from Nicholas Pritzker, Hyatt Hotel heir and billionaire investor
Who’s funding the opposition?
The Coalition for Responsible Drug Policies, sponsored by the Public Safety Institute, has raised $159,150. Here are five of the top donors:
• $64,150 from Sam Action Inc., a nonprofit alliance of health professionals opposing marijuana legalization
• $25,000 from California Teamsters, a union representing workers largely in the trucking and warehouse industries
• $10,000 from the California State Sheriffs’ Association
• $10,000 from Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs State PAC
• $10,000 from Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association
Source: Secretary of State
Stoned Mayhem on the Freeways (SMOF) “You hear people say it’s not as bad as alcohol. But if you smoke marijuana and drive, it does impair you,” said George Hofstetter, president of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, which has donated $10,000 to oppose legalization. “I hope we can get the word out there, but there’s a lot of support for it right now.”
Sabet Conjecture Hutchens, the Orange County sheriff, doubts new tax revenue will offset the cost of potentially having more drivers under the influence of marijuana and more people in addiction treatment. But she also added that financial benefits aren’t the proper basis for assessing the merits of the measure.
Drugs R Bad, Mmmkay? “Even if they were making money hand over fist, to me it’s not a good enough reason to legalize marijuana,” she said. “Is the next thing that we decide to legalize going to be methamphetamine or cocaine so that we can tax and regulate it?”
Drugs = Crime But John Lovell, a longtime lobbyist for law enforcement groups including the Riverside Sheriffs’ Association, said: “What is incredible about this provision is that it says, ‘We don’t care if you’re a cocaine dealer or a heroin dealer. You can’t be denied a license because of that.’”
Paint it, Black Hutchens said she has been following news out of Colorado since the state became the first to allow recreational marijuana sales two years ago. She noted the state still has a significant black market and said there’s no reason to expect California’s entrenched underground market also wouldn’t persist.
What About the Children (WATC) Both sides argue that their biggest concern is keeping young people away from marijuana. “I don’t think we need one more thing to dumb down our young people and impact their motivation to do well in life,” Hutchens said.
