Cash flowing into pro-, anti-legalization campaigns

Ballot measures to legalize recreational marijuana in Arizona and medical marijuana in Florida, which voters will consider Nov. 8, are spurring opponents and proponents to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, which opposes recreational legalization, has collected slightly more than $2 million but has spent less than one third of that and still has $1.4 million in its war chest, according to reports filed with the secretary of state.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which supports Proposition 205, as the Arizona legalization measure is known, raised $3.2 million but has spent almost all of it – mostly on efforts to get the measure on the ballot – and has less than $170,000, YourWestValley.com reported.

In Florida, New Approach contributed $1 million to United for Care, as the group supporting medical marijuana legalization in Florida is known. New Approach, a philanthropy tied to the family of the late Peter Lewis, the former chairman of Progressive Insurance, has made the largest single donation to the effort, Orlando Weekly reported.