Marijuana Legalization Push: Facebook Co-Founders Support – Facebook co-founders have given 170k to a California pro-pot measure. Sean Parker has given up $100,000 of his own money to back Proposition 19, which will be voted on next month. He is not the first person from the popular social networking site to donate money to the cause, either. Dustin Moskowitz made two donations that totaled $70,000 to the measure.
Neither of them are still with the company, but both still have ownership stakes. Estimates put the value of the privately held company as high as $33.7 billion, making it one of the most highly valued sites on the Internet.
It will be interesting to see who else donates to the cause. So far $1.5 million of the $2.4 million that has been raised for the measure has come from the main sponsor, the Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur Richard Lee. He has been an icon in the industry since it was first legalized for medical use, and has continued to support the cause. The only other 6 figure donation came from the adult entertainment mogul Phil Harvey.
Parker’s donation came after the Yes on 19 campaign committee reported having low cash flow heading into the final weeks of the election. They will now be able to properly promote the campaign. It is nice to see Facebook’s execs getting involved with a cause that they believe in. Facebook recently came under fire from marijuana advocates who claimed that they were keeping them from promoting on their website.