Pubdate: Thu, 30 Oct 2014
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2014 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Evan Halper, Tribune Washington Bureau
Page: 8

STATES SEEKING LEGAL POT FIND FIRED-UP FOES

Legalization Outlook Goes From Solid to Shaky in Some States

WASHINGTON- With pot sold openly to any adult who wants it in 
Colorado and Washington, marijuana advocates were hoping restrictions 
in other states would fall like dominoes this election season, 
opening the way for a push 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. Now, 
legalization measures are teetering in Florida, Oregon and Alaska, 
states where supporters were confident of victory only a few months ago.

"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 
lessthan-favorable headlines about marijuana-infused candies and 
tourists drug binges.

And unlike 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 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."

In Florida, the Adelsonbacked opposition has mounted a sophisticated 
onslaught, raising doubts among seniors, in particular, by comparing 
medical marijuana dispensaries to "pill mills" that wantonly 
distribute dangerous prescription drugs. The measure, Amendment 2, 
now appears unlikely to hit the 60 percent threshold it needs.

"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.

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 trial lawyer named John 
Morgan, went viral. In it, Morgan, clearly inebriated, extolled the 
virtues of getting high.

"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 percent.

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

Pot backers lost in 2012, and this year polls show support just above 
50 percent.

"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. 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 younger and more liberal voters, Nadelmann said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom