Billionaire Soros gives million dollars to legal marijuana bid

Oct 26, 2010, 23:44 GMT

San Francisco - Liberal financier and philanthropist George Soros has donated 1 million dollars to the campaign to legalize marijuana in California, organizers said Tuesday.

The money will be used to finance a last-minute advertising blitz in the huge American state which votes on the controversial ballot measure known as Proposition 19 on November 2, Dale Jones of the Yes on 19 campaign told reporters.

The measure would allow Californians over the age of 21 to grow a small amount of pot for their personal use. Local authorities would have the power to permit and tax marijuana production, and there would be stiff penalties for anyone caught selling cannabis to underage users.

Support for the measure has been flagging in recent weeks following statements of opposition by the US Attorney General Eric Holder and other prominent law enforcement figures. But the Soros donation could help educate voters about the benefits of the measure, Jones said in a conference call.

'Once people have read the initiative and understand Prop. 19 and see what it will and will not do, we see overwhelming support,' she said. 'Every bit that supporters chip in, more people will get the right message.'

News of Soros' donation came after the Hungarian-born financier published an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal promoting the measure.

'Regulating and taxing marijuana would simultaneously save taxpayers billions of dollars in enforcement and incarceration costs, while providing many billions of dollars in revenue annually,' he wrote. 'It also would reduce the crime, violence and corruption associated with drug markets, and the violations of civil liberties and human rights that occur when large numbers of otherwise law-abiding citizens are subject to arrest. Police could focus on serious crime instead.'

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