Pubdate: Thu, 30 Oct 2014
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Evan Halper

POT MEASURES LOOKING SHAKY

3 States Had Appeared Poised to Legalize

WASHINGTON - With pot sold openly to any adult who wants it in 
Colorado and Washington state, marijuana advocates were hoping 
restrictions in other states would fall like dominoes this election 
season, opening the way for a push in Congress to change federal drug laws.

They were not anticipating a multimillion-dollar wager against them 
by a casino mogul. Or a spike in voter anxiety amid bureaucratic 
stumbles in regulating the nascent recreational pot market. Or an 
unfortunate cellphone video from a rowdy frat bar called Boots N Buckles.

Now, legalization measures are teetering in Florida, Oregon and 
Alaska, states where supporters were confident of victory only a few 
months ago. It's all enough to seriously harsh the mellow of pro-pot advocates.

"This is turning out to be a unique and very difficult election 
year," said Aaron Houston, a strategist for the Ghost Group, a 
marijuana-focused investment company. Ballot measures, he said, are 
under stress from the same midterm challenge afflicting all political 
forces on the left and their causes: an uninspired base of voters.

But advocates acknowledge that some voters are also wary of how 
legalization has worked in Colorado and Washington. Legalization has 
not set off crime sprees in those states or a surge in stoned drivers 
crashing on roadways, as opponents had warned, but there have been 
plenty of less-than-favorable headlines about marijuana-infused 
candies and sodas and tourists going on drug binges.

And, unlike in previous campaigns, opponents of legalization this 
year have the money to make sure voters hear about those problems. 
The funds come from the unexpected emergence of a new and 
deep-pocketed nemesis for legal pot: Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire 
chief of Las Vegas Sands Corp.

Adelson, who ranks alongside Charles and David Koch in the magnitude 
of money he invests in conservative politics, has spent $5 million to 
thwart what had been considered a routine medical marijuana proposal 
in Florida, surprising not just the measure's supporters but its 
delighted opponents too.

The police organizations, drug treatment doctors and public health 
advocates who have banded together in the past to fight legalization 
efforts have never seen so much cash.

"This is totally unprecedented," said Kevin Sabet, co-founder of 
Project SAM, a national anti-marijuana group. "There has never even 
been a TV ad from the 'no' side before."

"The fact that Colorado and Washington have passed legalization has 
helped our argument," Sabet said. "We point at their example. We ask 
the teacher in Eugene if they want to deal with what the teacher in 
Denver is dealing with, with marijuana candies brought to school.... 
We can ask the minority rights advocate in Alaska whether they think 
it is fair that all these marijuana stores are concentrated in 
minority neighborhoods in Washington and Colorado."

In Florida, the Adelson-backed opposition has mounted a 
sophisticated, multimedia onslaught, raising doubts among seniors, in 
particular, by comparing medical marijuana dispensaries to "pill 
mills" that wantonly distribute dangerous prescription drugs. Once 
significantly ahead in polls, the measure, Amendment 2, now appears 
unlikely to hit the 60% threshold it needs for passage.

"Florida is the beginning of what will be a broader effort 
nationwide," said Andy Abboud, Adelson's chief political strategist. 
He said Adelson and his wife, Miriam, a physician specializing in 
drug addiction, seek to "counterbalance the mainstreaming of 
marijuana in the country."

For them, it is personal, Abboud said. Adelson's son from a previous 
marriage died of a drug overdose.

The billionaire's involvement in Florida came at the behest of his 
friend Mel Sembler, a major GOP donor and former ambassador to Italy 
who runs a Florida-based network of drug treatment facilities that 
have attracted controversy for alleged harsh tactics with patients. 
Sembler and his wife, Betty, went to the Adelsons "and made a 
personal plea," Abboud said. "They can be very persuasive."

As the Adelson money flowed, the campaign to legalize medical 
marijuana in Florida suffered another setback when a video of 
Amendment 2's chief sponsor, a wealthy, well-connected trial lawyer 
named John Morgan, went viral on YouTube.

In it, Morgan, drink in hand, clearly inebriated and cussing with 
abandon, extolled the virtues of getting high before a rally of rowdy 
college kids at the Boots N Buckles bar in Lakeland, a central 
Florida city about halfway between Tampa and Orlando.

"He self-destructed in public view," said David Colburn, director of 
the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of 
Florida. The center's latest poll shows support for the proposal has 
dipped to 48%.

"This is a serious issue which requires a serious discourse before 
people are going to be persuaded," Colburn said. "Instead, it became 
a bit of a joke."

The outlook is brighter, but still dicey, for legalization advocates 
in Oregon, where voters will decide whether to go the way of their 
neighbors in Washington and allow the sale of pot for recreational use.

This is a repeat try for pot backers in Oregon, who lost narrowly in 2012.

This year, advocates are better organized, have a measure written to 
appeal more broadly, and are flush with cash thanks to millions of 
dollars in backing from Drug Policy Action, the political arm of the 
Drug Policy Alliance, which is funded by billionaire George Soros.

Yet polls show support for the measure hovering just above 50%.

"It is closer than we would like," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive 
director of the alliance.

Oregon is a crucial state for legalization supporters, who hope to 
see marijuana available for sale to adults up and down the West Coast by 2016.

GOP-dominated Alaska is also considered a prize as organizers seek to 
enlist more Republicans in their crusade. But polls, while 
notoriously unreliable in Alaska, generally show the measure falling short.

Regardless of what happens next week, organizers believe they are 
positioned for big wins in 2016, a presidential election year, which 
typically brings out an electorate that is younger and more liberal, 
Nadelmann said.

This year, though, is proving to be difficult.

"We're dealing with a tough mood in the country right now with Ebola 
and ISIS and the big drop in the stock market," Nadelmann said. "It 
puts a drag on things. People are not in a forward-thinking state of 
mind. They are more wary of change."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom