Discount Tire Company, which is based in Phoenix (and has stores all over the US), and its billionaire owner (worth more than $8 BILLION) Bruce Halle don’t like marijuana and don’t want people to have legal access to it. While that is Mr. Halle’s right, we the people also have the right to boycott his business BECAUSE of his opinions, and that’s exactly what’s happening.

Discount Tire is facing a growing boycott movement after making a $1 million contribution to help defeat Proposition 205, the ballot initiative to legalize recreational use of marijuana in Arizona.

About half of the state’s registered voters want Prop 205 to pass and if they all boycott, and the rest of us do too, it might cause an upset to business.

From the article:

“Under Prop 205, it would be legal for adults of drinking age to possess up to an ounce of marijuana, which could be purchased at a state-run system of retail shops or grown in limited quantities for personal use. Possession of more than an ounce up to 2.5 ounces would be a non-arrestable civil offense subject to a $300 fine.”

Thankfully, the $1 million isn’t an automatic win for “Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy”, as polls indicate the vote will be close- depending on election-day turnout of Democrats and young voters. However, Halle’s cash does mean that ARDP can take up space on the airwaves with their ridiculous and outdated propaganda and put up more “vote no” signs on street corners.

While the pro-Prop 205 campaign relies almost entirely on contributions from the national Marijuana Policy Project and Arizona medical-marijuana dispensaries, ARDP has much deeper pockets; just last month, the group accepted a $500,000 contribution from Insys Therapeutics, the maker of a synthetic THC.

Arizona Secretary of State records show that ARDP has been busy fundraising this month:

  • $100,000 from Larry Van Tuyl, a Phoenix resident whose family sold its string of car dealerships to Warren Buffett in 2014.
  • $10,000 from Bennett Dorrance, Scottsdale resident and heir to the Campbell Soup fortune.
  • $10,000 from Tucson real estate mogul Donald R. Diamond, an ally of U.S. Senator John McCain whom the New York Times in 2008 called “Arizona’s answer to Donald Trump.”
  • $10,000 from investor Foster Friess of Wyoming, a Trump supporter and, according to TheHill.com, a “Republican mega-donor.”
  • Empire Southwest LLC, already a big contributor to ARDP, kicked in another $150,000 this month, and the Arizona Republican Party donated $10,285.

Nice friends.

We will watch this story as it unfolds and have high hopes (no pun intended) for legalization in the state.

Source: Phoenix New Times