California’s Proposition 64 campaign received $2 million in new donations this week: Sean Parker, Napster co-founder and Facebook’s first president, donated another $1.25 million; and the New Approach PAC infused another $750,000 into the campaign to legalize recreational cannabis in the state, the OC Register reports.
Parker has now donated a total of $2.25 million and the PAC — a legacy of deceased legalization activist and Progressive Insurance Chairman Peter Lewis — has contributed a total of $1.5 million. The campaign, backing the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, now boasts a $5.5 million war chest.
The Coalition for Responsible Drug Policies, a group opposing the campaign, is also actively raising funds in hopes to defeat Prop 64. The coalition, backed by the Public Safety Institute, was recently given $10,000 by the State Sheriffs’ Association, bringing their war chest total to $131,000. An anti-legalization group, Smart Approaches to Marijuana, has joined law enforcement groups, the Teamsters, and a state hospital association in trying to defeat the measure, which will appear on ballots in November.
According to a May 25 poll by the Public Policy Institute of California, 60 percent of likely voters support legalization of cannabis for recreational use. Several lawmakers have expressed support for Prop 64 this week, including Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer and Assembly Speaker Emeritus Toni Atkins, both Democrats.
Hyatt Hotel heir Nicholas Pritzker; the advocacy arm of the Drug Policy Alliance, Drug Policy Action; and Weedmaps, a website that connects patients with dispensaries, have also backed the measure.