Cannabis business interests are funding the under-the-radar campaign to pass State Issue 2, the adult-use cannabis initiative, new state disclosures show, while a collection of state manufacturers are behind the lightly-funded campaign to defeat it.
All told, the campaigns have spent just $1 million in the weeks before the Nov. 7 election, an unusually small amount for a controversial ballot issue and a fraction of the amount spent by the groups surrounding State Issue 1, the abortion amendment.
The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which is backing state Issue 2, reported raising nearly $1.2 million, $883,000 of which came from a collection of identified cannabis companies and cannabis business executives. The largest contributions came from Curaleaf, a publicly traded company based in New York City that gave $200,000, and FarmaceuticalRx, a Pittsburgh company that has a presence in Ohio, which gave $250,000.
The report disclosed two additional contributors who gave $275,000 but listed them as “unknown,” which is illegal under state law. Tom Haren, a campaign spokesperson, called the missing information a “miscommunication” among staff and said it will be fixed soon.
The group still has $389,700 in its bank account after spending $818,000.
Read more at cleveland.com