Pubdate: Sun, 22 Jul 2012
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2012 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Jonathan Martin

MARIJUANA INITIATIVE GETS $1.25 MILLION IN NEW DONATIONS

The Money Will Allow the State Campaign to Legalize Pot to Launch a 
TV-Advertising Blitz in August.

An initiative to legalize and tax marijuana was buoyed this weekend 
by $1.25 million in new donations, allowing the campaign to place a 
big TV ad buy for August.

Initiative 502, the first marijuana-legalization initiative to make 
the state ballot, raised the money from just four donors, including 
$450,000 donations from Progressive Insurance founder Peter Lewis and 
an arm of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance.

The donations will pay for a $1 million TV-ad blitz in August, before 
other campaigns saturate the airwaves, said I-502 campaign manager 
Alison Holcomb.

I-502, on the November ballot, would legalize possession and sale of 
up to 1 ounce of marijuana. It would impose a steep excise tax on 
marijuana and cannabis-infused products at new state-licensed 
marijuana stores, and would allow state-regulated grow farms.

The tax-and-regulate approach to marijuana legalization has drawn 
strong support from such longtime drug-reform advocates as Lewis, of 
Ohio. Before the weekend's contributions, I-502 had raised $1.7 million.

A new statewide poll, paid for by KING 5, finds 55 percent support 
for I-502 versus 32 percent opposition.

Previous polls found firmer opposition, but Holcomb said attitudes 
change when voters understand I-502's safeguards, including a ban on 
marijuana sales to people under 21.

"People are getting more comfortable when they take a closer look," she said.

Holcomb said the new contributions, which will be officially reported 
by the campaign early next week, included $250,000 from Edmonds 
travel guru Rick Steves, who previously donated $100,000; and 
$100,000 from the ACLU of Washington.

The campaign has racked up blue-chip endorsers, including former 
federal prosecutors, judges and drug-abuse experts, as well as the 
state labor council.

The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs opposes the 
initiative. So do several prominent marijuana-legalization advocates 
and some in the medical-marijuana industry, who object to a proposed 
new limit on active THC in the bloodstream, arguing it would 
effectively criminalize driving by medical-marijuana patients.

Philip Dawdy, who previously ran a campaign to decriminalize 
marijuana, said he was helping organize opposition to I-502. A new 
group, Safe Access Alliance, would file with state campaign 
regulators this week, and will be fundraising soon, he said.

The excise taxes imposed by I-502 would dramatically increase costs 
on patients, said Dawdy.

"I-502 made a serious miscalculation," said Dawdy. "They calculated 
that getting the votes of soccer moms were more important than 
medical-marijuana patients."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom