Sheldon Adelson Spends $500,000 on Arizona Anti MMJ Campaign
Sheldon Adelson Spends $500,000 on Arizona Anti MMJ Campaign as the Las Vegas casino owner donates to the campaign against legal recreational marijuana in Arizona.
Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson poses for a photo with its Marina Bay Sands Casino construction sites in the background after an interview with Reuters in Singapore in this July 8, 2009 file photo. REUTERS/Tim Chong/Files
Adelson joined the ranks of other business owners who have funded Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, which opposes
Proposition 205. The campaign has raised about $4.3 million to oppose the legalization of recreational
marijuana. Adelson gave about $5 million in 2014 to oppose medical marijuana in Florida and this year
has spent $2 million opposing recreational pot in Nevada, his home state, and $1 million to oppose it in
Massachusetts. Adelson and his wife founded a nonprofit drug abuse treatment and research clinic in
2000. The campaign has gotten other major donations, including $1 million from Discount Tire Co. on
Oct. 12. Insys Therapeutics, a Chandler-based pharmaceutical company developing medicinal
cannabinoids, gave $500,000 in August.
The widow of a state trooper killed by a driver accused of smoking marijuana before the crash is
making an emotional plea against a Massachusetts ballot question that would legalize recreational
marijuana. Trooper Thomas Clardy, a father of seven, was killed in March when a medical marijuana
patient crashed his vehicle into Clardy’s cruiser. In a new web video, Reisa Clardy said she believes there
will be more accidents and more fatalities if voters approve Question 4 on the Nov. 8 ballot. The driver,
David Njuguna, of Webster, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, operating under the influence of
drugs and other charges in Thomas Clardy’s death. The Yes on 4 Campaign issued a statement in
response to Reisa Clardy’s video. The group expressed condolences to Clardy on the loss of her husband
and said Njuguna, if convicted, should be “punished to the fullest extent of the law.” The group said
Question 4 does not change state laws that prohibit driving under the influence of marijuana.
Alaska’s first marijuana testing laboratory opened for business Monday, offering cannabis analysis for
retail outlets and commercial or private growers. CannTest LLC, operating in an industrial area in
Anchorage, cleared regulatory requirements Friday, said Mark Malagodi, the chief executive officer.
Alaska voters approved recreational use of marijuana for those 21 and older in November 2014. Passage
of the ballot measure made it legal under state law to possess up to an ounce of marijuana outside of a
home. Growers, retail outlets and testing labs have been waiting for regulatory processes to be put in
place. Retail outlets could open as early as this week.
An Arkansas lawmaker opposed to two medical marijuana ballot measures said Monday he’ll
introduce legislation during next year’s session to make a more limited form of the drug available to
some patients if voters reject the proposals, a move legalization proponents dismissed as a ploy to
defeat their efforts. Republican Rep. Dan Douglas vowed to introduce the bill seeking to legalize
marijuana that is low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which produces the euphoric state for users, but
high in cannabidiol (CBD) for some patients with certain conditions. CBD is a marijuana compound that
has been used to fight seizures. Douglas’ proposal would be more limited in who would have access to
the drug and in what forms. According to a draft of the bill, it would be available for a handful of
conditions such as seizures related to epilepsy or trauma-related head injuries and Crohn’s disease. But
most of the conditions it covers — including multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease — would only
qualify if they were end-stage or severe. Cancer patients would only qualify if their diagnosis was end-
stage or their treatment produced nausea, vomiting or wasting illness. The proposal would bar patients
from smoking marijuana as a treatment.
Mexican prosecutors say they have found a tunnel equipped with ventilation and lighting that headed
from the city of Tijuana toward the United States. The attorney general’s office did not say whether the
563-yard- long passage tunnel actually reached U.S. soil. The tunnel had rails, apparently used to push
loads of drugs through. It was about 3 feet wide
