Billionaire philanthropist George Soros backs bid to legalise marijuana in California

One of the world’s wealthiest philanthropists is backing a bid to legalise the marijuana industry in California.



Billionaire George Soros plans to make ‘a significant contribution’ to a state initiative to allow recreational use and small-scale cultivation of the drug, he said.



Californians will get the chance to vote on the move in a referendum next Tuesday.

US billionaire George Soros is backing a bid to legalise the marijuana industry in California

It will be on the same mid-term ballot paper as state representatives for U.S. Congress.

Mr Soros, 80, became known as ‘the man who broke the Bank of England’ after he made a reported £600 million during the 1992 Black Wednesday UK currency crisis.



In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, the financier said marijuana laws were ‘clearly doing more harm than good’.



He highlighted the cost of jailing cannabis offenders and the fact that billions are spent arresting 750,000 users a year in California.

Soros has highlighted the tremendous cost of keeping marijuana offenders behind bars

While several U.S. states allow personal use of the drug, the Californian vote will be the biggest test yet to determine whether a more widespread acceptance is likely.



‘The mere fact of its being on the ballot has elevated and legitimised public discourse about marijuana policy in ways I could not have imagined,’ Mr Soros said.



Taxing and regulating the industry would reduce crime and violence linked to trafficking as well as violations of civil liberty, he said.

