CITIZENS OUTSPENDING COPS ON PROP 19

The campaign to legalize marijuana is attracting much more money than
opponents, but Tax Cannabis 2010 backer Richard Lee worries that it
might not be enough.

Hundreds of California citizens allied with the state's medical
cannabis industry outspent law enforcement establishment by a ratio of
five to one on the effort to roll back eighty years of pot prohibition
in the now-broke Golden State. Campaign finance reports released last
week show Tax Cannabis 2010 received $176,430 in monetary
contributions from this period, which covers April 1 to June 30, 2010,
and also received $37,609 in non-monetary contributions for a total of
$214,040. The drug law reform group has an ending cash balance of
$61,933 after expenditures.

Oakland businessperson Richard Lee's Oaksterdam University chipped in
at least $40,000 during the reporting period and total overall
contributions from the school now total $1.46 million. Medical
cannabis groups like Berkeley Patients Group and delivery service The
CannyBus also have donated funds. Jeff Wilcox and his marijuana
cultivation corporation AgraMed, who pushed for cultivation permits in
Oakland, donated to Proposition 19 as well as Councilwoman Nancy
Nadel, who gave $125. NORML's Dale Gieringer gave more than $10,000,
while George Zimmer of the Men's Warehouse contributed another $500 to
his total contributions of $20,500.

The large volume of contributions came from hundreds of regular
citizens across the state and country who are employed as teachers and
engineers. One Stinson Beach. resident listed his occupation as
"alchemist."

California's official law enforcement opposition group, known as
Public Safety First, reported about $61,000 in contributions. The
largest donors: the California Police Chiefs Association, which gave
$30,000, and the California Narcotics Officer's Association, which
contributed $20,000. Public Safety First's largest expenditure to date
has gone to campaign consultants the Wayne Johnson Agency in
Sacramento. Public Safety First has about $18,000 cash on hand. A RAND
Corporation study showed California would spend roughly $300 million
less on law enforcement and incarceration if it stopped arresting
about 60,000 Californians for pot each year.

As previously reported, about $100,000 in new funds supporting Prop 19
has come from an East Coast libertarian who formed the Drug Policy
Alliance Network Committee to Tax and Regulate Marijuana. All other
groups supporting and opposing Prop 19 did not e-file campaign finance
reports, indicating negligible funds.

Lee has said it could take $10 million to wage an advertising campaign
on behalf of the measure, which is either winning or losing by a few
points, depending on poll methodology. He recently told AlterNet that
fund-raising for the campaign was "off-track," and that a one-on-one
grassroots campaign would replace costly ad buys.

Cannabis Cash in Mayor's Race

The city of Oakland's mainstreaming of medical marijuana has extended
to its mayoral races, where leading cannabis dispensaries, hydroponics
stores, and the Prop 19 campaign are showing up in campaign finance
disclosures for mayoral candidates Rebecca Kaplan, Jean Quan, and Don
Perata.

Tax Cannabis 2010 volunteer coordinator Jennifer Hall donated the
maximum personal amount of $700 to Kaplan's campaign, as did Dan Rush
of the UFCW Local 5 who recently helped unionize Oaksterdam. Potential
Oakland cultivator Jeff Wilcox of AgraMed also donated the maximum of
$700 to Kaplan, while dispensary Green Mind Gardens of El Cerrito
donated a symbolic $420 and UFCW Local 5's political action committee
donated $250.

As for Quan, she received $700 from Oakland hydroponics retailer
iGrow. Owner Dhar Mann has also expressed interest in obtaining a
coveted cultivation permit.

And longtime Oakland politico Don Perata received $400 this year and
$100 last year from SK Seymour LLC, which is Oaksterdam owner Lee's
company. Lee also donated $10,000 last year to a cancer initiative set
up by Perata. AgraMed employee Martin Kaufman donated $700 this year
to the Perata campaign. Interestingly, natural enemies of medical
cannabis like cops and pharmaceutical companies also donated to
Perata. The Peace Officers Research Association of California gave
$1,300 to Perata through their PAC, and the Pharmaceutical Research
and Manufacturers Association of America chipped in $600 to Perata's
mayoral campaign.

Can 'Just Say Now' Pot The Vote?

A new national campaign to legalize adult use of cannabis launched
last week, called "Just Say Now." The DC-based group intends to turn
out the youth vote this November in states where marijuana is an
issue, including California. 2010 is a midterm election, meaning a
significant drop-off in the liberal voters who elected Obama in 2008,
but Just Say Now aims to counter that trend by unleashing the group
Students for Sensible Drug Policy on college campuses.

Weed may be a wedge issue that turns out youth voters in states where
it matters, says This Is Your Country on Drugs author Ryan Grim on the
Huffington Post. Additionally, Congressman Barney Frank told The New
York Times that national decriminalization/legalization is less than
five years away.