[RetroGrow]

Hopefully, he is putting his money where his mouth is. We could use a few billion in TV spots:George Soros, the multibillionaire investor who helped bankroll three initiatives to change drug laws in California, endorsed the marijuana legalization initiative Monday and plans to make a major financial contribution to the campaign.

Soros, who invested $3 million in the medical marijuana initiative and two other measures, made his announcement in an opinion piece published online by the Wall Street Journal. "Proposition 19 already is a winner no matter what happens on election day. The mere fact of its being on the ballot has elevated and legitimized public discourse about marijuana and marijuana policy in ways I could not have imagined a year ago," Soros wrote. The article is scheduled to appear in Tuesday’s print edition.

Soros, who runs a hedge fund and founded the Open Society Foundations, has not yet donated to the campaign. But Michael Vachon, an advisor to Soros, said that "he plans to make a significant contribution."

Related: L.A. Sheriff will enforce pot laws even if Prop. 19 passes.

The initiative was the brainchild of Richard Lee, an Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur who has spent at least $1.5 million to draft the measure, collect signatures to qualify it for the ballot and pay for a campaign. The wealthy donors who have helped to pay for past efforts to change California’s drug laws had largely stayed out of the campaign until the last few weeks.

Peter B. Lewis, a retired insurance company executive, recently donated $209,005 to the campaign, and George Zimmer, the founder and CEO of Men’s Wearhouse, recently gave $50,000. Both businessmen
supported past initiatives to change the state’s drug laws.

In his opinion piece, Soros said that the nation’s marijuana laws "are clearly doing more harm than good" at a cost of billions of dollars a year "to enforce this unenforceable prohibition."

Soros wrote that regulating and taxing marijuana would reduce the crime and violence linked to criminal drug gangs and violations of civil liberties "that occur when large numbers of otherwise law-abiding citizens are subject to arrest." He also noted that minorities are arrested at higher rates for marijuana crimes, creating arrest records that may follow them through life.

Although he endorsed Proposition 19, noting that it would allow recreational use and small-scale cultivation, Soros also suggested "its deficiencies can be corrected on the basis of experience." Besides allowing adults 21 and older to grow and possess marijuana, the initiative would allow cities and counties to authorize commercial cultivation, sales and taxation.

"Just as the process of repealing national alcohol prohibition began with individual states repealing their own prohibition laws, so individual states must now take the initiative with respect to repealing marijuana prohibition laws," Soros wrote.

[Updated: He donate $1 million to help pass Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization measure, which he endorsed Monday as "a major step forward."

The donation makes Soros, who is the chairman of a hedge fund and who founded the Open Society Foundations, the largest donor to the campaign after Richard Lee, an Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur, who has spent at least $1.5 million on the measure.]"

https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...sition-19.html

[DoobieDuck]

Good job RetroGrow in getting this current breaking news story up! One I found at Seer Press

George Soros advocates for legalization of marijuana

Well-known financier and philanthropist George Soros has called on the U.S. government to legalize marijuana, reports BBC.
In an article published in Wall Street Journal, George Soros argues that if the U.S. government imposes a tax on the sale of marijuana and controls its use; they could save billions of dollars. He emphasized the costs of keeping the cannabis offenders under detention and said that California spends billions of dollars per year to arrest 750,000 these people.
“The mere fact of its being on the ballot has elevated and legitimized public discourse about marijuana policy in ways I could not have imagined,” Mr Soros said.
He called the government’s attempts to ban marijuana smoking as useless.
In November, California will vote on the legalization of marijuana use and produce it in small quantities.
At the same time, leaders of three Latin American countries urged Californians to vote against the legalization of marijuana. The presidents of Colombia, Mexico and Costa Rica said that legalizing marijuana would be a wrong signal.
Personal use of this drug is allowed in many U.S. states, but voting in California is the litmus test whether marijuana can be accepted more favorably and legally in the society.

[Dkgrower]

Soros has always been a man off reason and supporting legal cannabis

Sure hope the pepol off california votes YESSSSSSSSS

[Maria_Vanessa]

Thank you for posting those articles. I don't live in California, so I don't know the local politics. It's good that Mr. Soros has an optimistic and active outlook about cannabis. It sounds like he is prepared to move forward with more action if 19 does not pass. The issue that I have with alot of people who vote no is that they are not offering any other alternatives that would have a chance of passing on a ballot.

[RetroGrow]

Not living in California I only know what I read. I am hoping some of this money is being used for TV spots, as that seems to be the preferred method of influencing people. Amazing what cathode rays do to the human brain. They use them to sell us stuff, they use them to get people elected, so, hopefully they are bombarding the airwaves with creative and educational pro cannabis ads, and debunking the lies and propaganda proffered by the government and the forces of evil. We now have a Russian official(s) in our country propagandizing against cannabis, and equating it with the heroin plague in his country. He obviously doesn't know what cannabis is, but he is staunchly against it regardless. We need to fight tooth and nail against this, as the world, rather than becoming more enlightened, is actually going the other way. More conservatives are about to take power both in the U.S., and also Canada, the Netherlands, and the rest of Europe. We need to make a stand now. We need to make a statement to the rest of the world. It just might be our last chance. It goes beyond the politics of cannabis. It's about our freedom, and that's why everyone here needs to vote "yes!". "Yes" for freedom. Screw the politics of it.

[AtMos1]

Isn't prop 19 just a reboot of the 1937 stamp act? where the government promised to tax & regulate cannabis with a stamp which they never produced? furthermore prop 215 & sb420 has been in effect since 1996 making marijuana use legal in all of California (aside from "non smoking areas") doesn't prop 19 give individual cities authority to overrule this? plus many have said that they don't care about tax revenue. also local police(are supposed to)enforce local laws not federal ones. I don't want to sound like I'm against MJ legalization...heavens NO I just don't want to duped into believing I'm "helping" a cause and instead crippling it. for lack of information/knowledge (which "they" keep away and use against us)...How many times do we have to vote YES?

[budlover123]

What was public opinion about weed in like 1937?

In 2010, the public opinion about weed is so much more reasonable and founded in truth instead of propaganda.

Why do people think that only the government change things? We all change the world.

vote yes on prop 19, or be a huge tool, or it's your choice.

edit: prop 215 and sb420 are medical laws, which require you to take advantage of a medical system by complaining to a doctor about some bullshit, prop 19 is the law the way it should be, the way people abuse the medicinal laws should be nullified by saying if you're over 21, you can buy pot.

[justalilrowdy]

Poised and ready to take over the industry in California.

[gdtrfb]

i was wondering how long it'd take before the conspiracy showed up.

[justalilrowdy]

Sacrifices are always made when there is change. I am undecided. It has its pros and cons like anything. I will celebrate in the streets if it is legalized. I have waited all my life but I'm just not sure this is the right one.. If we could only see the future.. lol