Marijuana Blog

The main financial backer of the ballot measure in Massachusetts to legalize medicinal marijuana is 78-year old billionaire and former chairman of Progressive Insurance, Peter Lewis.

Lewis has given $525,000 to the campaign behind the measure in MA, and has given an estimated $40 million to marijuana law reform measures nationwide.

Lewis says he was a recreational marijuana smoker earlier in his life, but after an infection took his lower left leg, he realized firsthand the value of marijuana as a pain killer. On his experience in the hospital dealing with the pain, Lewis writes, “I was very glad I had marijuana. It didn’t exactly eliminate the pain, but it made the pain tolerable — and it let me avoid those heavy-duty narcotic pain relievers that leave you incapacitated.”

In 2012 alone Lewis has donated to reform efforts in Washington, Colorado, and his home state of Ohio.

The reason the propaganda against marijuana has been so successful is the money behind it. From William Randolph Hearst’s smear campaign against marijuana in the 1930’s to the alcohol and pharmaceutical companies funding the drug-free America campaigns in modern times, there have always been rich people looking to profit off of marijuana prohibition.

But here is a rich man using his money to actually bring about political change that will help millions of people, millions of sick people.

Simply put, the medical marijuana movement needs more money behind it. Political campaigns cannot be effective without money, for signature gathering all the way to getting out the vote on Election Day.

Elected officials on all levels would be more amenable to look into the medical marijuana issue if they were getting campaign money from MMJ supporters like Peter Lewis. This is why medical marijuana support in places like the U.S. Congress lags so far behind public polls; money.

Source: http://blogs.bostonmagazine.com