Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson contributed another $1 million in mid-October to a political committee fighting a proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize medical marijuana, newly filed finance reports show. Adelson had contributed $5 million of the $5,842,897 raised by the “Drug Free Florida Committee” as of Sunday. The committee also spent $1,254,013 in mid-October and reported an overall spending total of $5,582,772.
Almost all of the latest spending, $1.2 million, went to the New Jersey-based firm Jamestown Associates, LLC, for “media placement,” the reports show. Meanwhile, a political committee supporting the medical-marijuana proposal, which will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot as Amendment 2, raised $388,341 from Oct. 11 through Saturday, the reports show.
Also, the committee, known as “People United for Medical Marijuana,” received about $200,000 in in-kind contributions of television and radio advertising from The Morgan Firm, PA. That law firm is headed by John Morgan, who has spearheaded the medical-marijuana legalization effort. The committee also spent $622,643 from Oct. 11 through Saturday, bringing its overall spending total to $6,584,779.–News Service of Florida
John Smallberries says
Well there you go, the true opposition to amendment 2 isn’t even someone that lives in florida.
HorseWith a Name says
Hope they legalize it and this guy spent his money on nothing, must be nice to have millions to throw away. I wonder if he owns a prison or something? Why would he be so vested in keeping it illegal?
HorseWith a Name says
A side note he owns a casino Gambling is more addictive and ruins way more lives!!
familyguy says
Prohibitionist must be in trouble in florida more than they want to admit or they would not need more money to win. The true Christian thing to do is legalize. It is a voice of compassion for people that the it as medication, it offers compassion for families that have members incarcerated due to unjust laws and will remove the racial bias by law enforcement. There is a difference between being conservative and doing the right thing as a human. From there on it is up to you to decide if you would rather be a good Christian or a conservative. My personal choice is to be a Christian first. Say yes on 2 help these folks in need. GO VOTE Legalize.
barbie says
How disgusting is it that any laws or amendments passed in the state of Florida do not tend to impact residents of other states in any appreciable way (if at all), yet these same out-of-state residents can dump their filthy money into our in-state process? What’s even worse is that these “ads” are full of half-truths, propaganda or outright lies.
People need to wake up and understand that just because it was on tv or radio as an “advertisement”, that does NOT guarantee that whatever it is being said is actually true. Sheldon Adelson–or anyone else for that matter, since Citizens United corrupted the United States and her voting process–can spend as much money as he wants, and he can see to it that his money buys LIES.
Matthew Scott Cunningham says
EVERY BODY JUST SHOW UP AND VOTE YES ON 2
Obama 2014 says
Love it when the 1% waste their bush tax cut money on political demands and not creating jobs. More reason to expire those cuts. (and I mean that on both sides)
ted bundy says
until there are real controls NO is the only proper vote..
Anonymous says
Ted, you, like thousands of others, are believing the flat-out lie perpetuated by Adelson and his craven, crooked cronies. The amendment isn’t the same thing as law. The amendment will allow for the Florida legislature to WRITE the law. It is at that time which it’s determined what the “controls” are.
So, sorry–you’re absolutely wrong. The only proper–and decent and humane–vote here is YES. LET THE LAWMAKERS HAVE A CHANCE TO DO THEIR JOBS. Do you really think a GOP-controlled lege is going to allow anything other than MEDICAL pot??
barbie says
Ted, you, like thousands of others, are believing the flat-out lie perpetuated by Adelson and his craven, crooked cronies. The amendment isn’t the same thing as law. The amendment will allow for the Florida legislature to WRITE the law. It is at that time which it’s determined what the “controls” are.
So, sorry–you’re absolutely wrong. The only proper–and decent and humane–vote here is YES. LET THE LAWMAKERS HAVE A CHANCE TO DO THEIR JOBS. Do you really think a GOP-controlled lege is going to allow anything other than MEDICAL pot??
barbie says
FlaglerLive, can you PLEASE post a separate article about Amendment 2 which absolutely, clearly spells out the difference between “amending the Constitution” and codified civil and criminal law?
***The amendment isn’t the same thing as law. The amendment will allow for the Florida legislature to WRITE the law. It is at that time which it’s determined what the “controls” are.***
FlaglerLive says
Barbie, we have posted numerous correctives to the misinformation, including “Briefing : Amendment 2, Medical Marijuana Legalization,” “One More Time: What Opponents of Amendment 2 on Medical Pot Get Wrong” and “On Medical Pot, Palm Coast and Flagler Beach Governments Are Smoking the Wrong Stuff.”
YesOn2 says
He is a casino owner. Ironically, he also funded a research study in Isreal that showed the benefits of marijuana in treating MS.
“Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is reportedly shelling out an extra US$1.5 million to the opponents of a constitutional amendment that permits doctors to prescribe marijuana for medical purposes following a report that was published by his private foundation, the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson Medical Research Foundation, which stated that medical marijuana was effective in treating patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to Jewish Business News.”
barbie says
Excellent, thank you! People need to READ this stuff and understand what this amendment actually does–and more importantly, does NOT–actually do.
Carl says
Forget gambling ruining lives , Cigarettes and Tobacco are the number 1 and 2 killers in this country and have been for decades, but those are the drugs of choice by the powers that be, none of these conservatives have a moral platform to stand on, they just don`t want anyone or anything cutting into the profits they`ve been making on the garbage they`ve been selling for years, its like Scott striking down the high speed rail system , commuters would have left their cars home and traveled to Orlando , Jax and Tampa on that , but it would have taken a big bite out of fuel sales across the state and Scott and his oil cronies didn`t want that, they try and hide behind Christian values , but it`s been my experience that people that run screaming (I`m a Christian), usually have no moral compass at all ,they lie , cheat and hate, they are drivin by pure Greed!!!
massvocals says
all you citizen of FL who support legalization and for most for medical use YOU have to stand up now AND VOTE YES ON NO 2
we are watching for Massachusetts to Maine to calf those person who want to continue the war and the police state it serves are there this amen to the constitution will prevent them form acting to disable use as a patient I tell you my own doctor was attack scared by the DEA threat to his license I had to fire him , please cannabis works for us stop making it work for correctional institution and make it work for us legalize medical marijuana / cannabis NOW go vote YES no 2 take back liberty and freedom Now
MassVocals