BILLIONAIRE KEEN TO NIX POT LAWS

Financier Backs Measure on Minor Possession

BOSTON -- A measure that would decriminalize minor
marijuana-possession is on the ballot in Massachusetts largely
because of one man: billionaire George Soros.

Of the $429,000 collected last year by the group advancing the
measure, $400,000 came from Soros, who has championed similar efforts
in several states and spent $24 million to fight President George W.
Bush's 2004 re-election bid.

The Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy needed about $315,000 of
that just to collect the more than 100,000 signatures that secured a
spot on the ballot, according to campaign finance reports.

"All of us owe George Soros a great deal of gratitude," said Keith
Stroup, founder of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws.

If the measure is approved in November, Massachusetts would become
the 13th state to lift or ease criminal penalties on marijuana
possession. The proposal would make having an ounce or less of the
drug a civil offense punishable by a $100 fine.

Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the New York-based Drug Policy
Alliance, said Soros feels the war on drugs in the U.S. is draining
money and resources that could be better spent.

"He thinks the (ballot question) is a responsible initiative to
reduce the overreliance on criminal justice sanctions in dealing with
marijuana," Nadelmann said. "Marijuana should not be a priority of
the criminal justice system."

Soros is credited with financially backing many of the state
initiatives easing marijuana laws -- beginning with a 1996 California
ballot question to allow marijuana use for medical purposes.

Soros's wealth was estimated at $8.8 billion by Forbes magazine last
year. He was also the second-highest-paid hedge fund manager in the
U.S. last year at $2.9 billion.