POT BATTLE LIGHTS UP AGAIN IN CALIFORNIA
More tech industry leaders take investment roles and support legalization of marijuana
Asimmering battle among California’s marijuana legalization advocates has come to a head now that Gov. Jerry Brown has signed three laws laying the groundwork for legal recreational pot next year.
It’s a topic that’s attracted the financial backing of some of tech’s best known and wealthiest founders, such as Napster co-founder and Facebook investor Sean Parker, and they’re expected to jump into the ring this time, too.
Brown approved legislation Friday night creating very basic marijuana regulations in the state, where recreational marijuana remains illegal.
While the legislation ostensibly applies only to medical marijuana, it also lays the groundwork for the regulation of recreational marijuana, which is expected to be legalized during California’s 2016 election, when one or more ballot initiatives on legal pot are likely.
The specific language of the expected ballot initiatives matters significantly.
If it’s at odds with what Brown is expected to sign, legalization efforts could be delayed while conflicts get resolved.
“What happens if the ballot initiative passes and it’s contrary to what the governor signs?” asked Eddie Miller, the founder and CEO of InvestInCannabis.com. “That’s where all the drama lies.”
The legislation Brown passed creates a framework similar to that used to produce, distribute and sell alcohol in California.
But some cannabis advocates want to see the state retain more elements of its current medical marijuana system, with its nonprofit co-operatives and almost total lack of state oversight. TECH MONEY BACKING Many tech investors who see legal cannabis as inevitable support more corporate-friendly regulations, and a structure that includes a relatively small number of privately owned distribution companies and a scalable business model.
Among those pushing the corporate-friendly regulations are Sean Parker, an early investor in Facebook and Napster, Miller said. Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz also is passionate about the debate, and donated money back in 2010 to the failed California effort to legalize the leaf. And Peter Thiel, one of the founders of PayPal, has invested millions through his Founders Fund in Privateer Holdings, the parent company of the Bob Marley-branded marijuana line, Marley Natural.
Parker didn’t respond to requests for comment. Moskovitz’s current startup, workplace software company Asana, referred a reporter to Moskovitz’s philan-
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thropic foundation, Good Ventures, which among many donations this year gave $150,000 in August to the Drug Policy Alliance, which works on issues that include marijuana law reform.
A Buzzfeed News article this week cited unnamed sources in a report that indicated Parker and associates had decided to draft and back their own marijuana law initiative in anticipation of the 2016 vote. CANNABIS FARMERS Many longtime cannabis farmers in the state’s Emerald Triangle around Mendocino — who don’t currently pay taxes or face government scrutiny — generally prefer less regulation and more independence to strike their own deals with stores, Miller said.
California’s largely unregulated medical marijuana environment is a testament to the state’s sheer size and number of competing interests, said Derek Peterson, the CEO of cannabis company Terra Tech, which operates in both California and Nevada.
He said current players have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo for medical marijuana and mirroring that system for recreational pot.
“There’s a lot of egos and a lot of capital in medical marijuana. You’re seeing the same in recreational marijuana,” Peterson said. “We know the voters want it. It’s just a matter of getting everybody’s interests aligned.”
Conflicts among advocacy groups are nothing new.
But the intersection of money, marijuana and the state’s highprofile tech culture is drawing attention.
“Every group has their own opinion, and some groups have pollsters and they rely on those pollsters too much,” said Steve Fox, the executive director of the national Council on Responsible Cannabis Regulation.