Billionaire puts $1M behind CA rec initiative

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The question over whether or not billionaire Sean Parker, of Facebook fame, would help fund a push to legalize recreational marijuana in California has been put to rest. He recently contributed a second helping of $500,000, bringing his total commitment to $1 million, according to SF Weekly.

The Adult Use of Marijuana Act, also known informally as “the Parker initiative” because Parker may wind up being the driving financial force behind the campaign, now has amassed $2.25 million total for the electoral cycle. That probably won’t be enough in the long run to get the measure passed, however, which begs the question, how much is Parker willing to commit?

So far, other contributors include Weedmaps and the Drug Policy Alliance, which have both given $500,000 apiece, and a political action committee run by the heirs of longtime cannabis philanthropist Peter Lewis, which has given $250,000.

It’s likely going to take much more than what the campaign has on hand to get across the electoral goal line, however. SF Weekly notes that the Oregon rec campaign in 2014 spent nearly $7 million, and that was in a state with a much smaller population than California’s 38 million residents.