Liberal billionaire George Soros is wading back into California’s drug and rehabilitation laws, donating $1 million to a proposed ballot measure that would relax penalties for nonviolent drug offenses.
The measure would expand California’s drug treatment program, modify the state’s parole laws as well as change possession of marijuana from a misdemeanor to an infraction, the legal equivalent of a traffic ticket.
Soros, a well-known Democratic financier who donated millions of his personal fortune to try to oust President Bush from office in 2004, is no stranger to California ballot measures. In 2000, the New York investor poured in more than $1 million of his own money to pass Proposition 36, California’s landmark drug treatment law.
That measure mandated drug treatment instead of incarceration for people arrested and convicted of being under the influence or in possession of drugs, including harder substances such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.
Four years earlier, in 1996, he gave close to $500,000 to pass Proposition 215, the state’s medical marijuana initiative, according to news reports.
Soros, who ranked 80th on Forbes magazine’s list of the richest people in the world in 2007 with a net worth of $8.5 billion, has been an outspoken critic of America’s drug policies and has opened up his wallet to fund ballot measures across the country.
The latest Soros-backed California measure is sponsored by the Drug Policy Alliance, which bills itself as the “nation's leading organization of people who believe the war on drugs is doing more harm than good.” Soros is a member of the group’s board of directors.
The proponents of the measure, which began circulation in early January, must gather 433,971 valid signatures and submit them to county registrars by the April 21 deadline recommended by the secretary of state’s office.
So far, backers of the measure, which they call the Campaign for Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation, have raised $1.475 million – more than two-thirds of which came from Soros, who made his $1 million donation on Jan. 21.
Another $400,000 came from the Drug Policy Alliance Network, which did not immediately return a call for comment.
Note: The original verison of this story said the Drug Policy Alliance donated the $400,000, when the donation came from the group's political arm, the Drug Policy Alliance Network
The price tag of the measure is up for debate.
The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office’s review predicted that increased costs “could exceed $1 billion annually” for the expanded drug treatment programs, but savings “could exceed $1 billion annually” from reduced prison and parole costs. The LAO also estimates potential one-time savings of $2.5 billion from not building prisons.
With more than $3 raised per necessary valid signature, the measure is likely headed for the November 2008 ballot.
See the full text of the initiative here.
@Nyx.CommentBody@