Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Adelson gives half million to Arizona anti-pot campaign

Adelson

Patrick Semansky / AP

Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, wait for the presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., Monday, Sept. 26, 2016.

PHOENIX — The latest major donation to the campaign against legal recreational marijuana in Arizona comes from Las Vegas casino owner Sheldon Adelson, who donated $500,000 last week.

Adelson's donation joins the ranks of other business owners who have funded Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, which opposes Proposition 205. The campaign has raised about $4.3 million to oppose the legalization of recreational marijuana.

Adelson gave about $5 million in 2014 to oppose medical marijuana in Florida and this year has spent $2 million opposing recreational pot in Nevada, his home state, and $1 million to oppose it in Massachusetts. Adelson and his wife founded a non-profit drug abuse treatment and research clinic in 2000.

The campaign has gotten other major donations, including $1 million from Discount Tire Co. on Oct. 12. Insys Therapeutics, a Chandler-based pharmaceutical company developing medicinal cannabinoids, gave $500,000 in August.

"We're grateful for every donation we receive to help stop this bad policy from becoming law - and we're proud to have the strong backing of business leaders and philanthropists, like the Adelsons, who understand the disastrous consequences of passing Prop 205," said Annie Vogt, spokeswoman for the No on Prop 205 campaign.

Prop. 205 makes recreational pot legal for adults 21 and older, allowing them to use, possess, manufacture and give away or transport up to an ounce of marijuana. It creates a new state Department of Marijuana Licenses and Control, which will have the authority to license and regulate the marijuana market. The proposition also allows residents to each grow up to six marijuana plants at home.

The Prop. 205 campaign says legalized pot will result in safer communities and more money for schools. They say legal marijuana will eliminate the black market, weaken drug cartels and allow police to focus on more serious crimes. Carlos Alfaro, deputy campaign manager, says legalization in states like Colorado and Washington has already led to a drop in marijuana seizures along the border. He says prohibition on marijuana is not an effective tool.

But opponents say legalization will lead to a host of new problems, including an increase in teen use, marijuana-related vehicle accidents, decreased local authority and more criminal organizations. Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, a member of Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, says police will have no way of knowing how much marijuana is actually being grown in a home because the smell would not be probable cause to search. She pointed to a major drug sting in southern Colorado in September that netted over 22,000 pounds of marijuana that a criminal organization planned to sell in states where marijuana is still illegal. Colorado legalized recreational pot in 2012 and also allows small home grows.

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