SAN FRANCISCO – California's ballot measure to legalize marijuana has
a new friend: Facebook co-founder Sean Parker has given $100,000 to
back the proposal.
Parker's donation was reported in Proposition 19 campaign finance filings this
week.
And he's not the first big Proposition 19 donor with
ties to the social networking site. Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz
has made two donations totalling $70,000, including a $50,000
contribution last month.
Neither Parker nor Moskovitz are still with Palo
Alto-based Facebook, but both still have ownership stakes. Recent
estimates put the value of the privately held company as high as $33.7
billion.
"What's interesting here is that (Parker) is a member
of the generation that really gets it," said Stephen Gutwillig, a
spokesman for the Drug Policy Alliance, the main beneficiary of
Parker's contribution. "We think he's pivotal to the future of drug
policy reform in the country."
The 30-year-old served as Facebook's first president
and helped transform the company from dorm-room project to big business.
Parker and Moskovitz have become household names since the recent
release of "The Social Network." The film chronicling the contentious
origins of Facebook was No. 1 at the box office last week.
Pop musician and actor Justin Timberlake plays Parker
in the movie, which portrays him as a hotshot who convinces Facebook
founder Mark Zuckerberg to push out his friend from the burgeoning
company.
In a recent Vanity Fair profile, the media-shy
entrepreneur is described as a computer-programming prodigy with an
uncanny knack for anticipating online trends and a penchant for designer
clothes and partying.
At age 19, Parker helped develop Napster, the
music-sharing software that turned the recording industry upside-down.
He is now a partner at Founders Fund, a Silicon Valley venture capital
firm.
Parker did not immediately respond to e-mails seeking
comment.
About $1.5 million of the $2.4 million raised so far
in support of Proposition 19 has come from the measure's main sponsor,
Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur Richard Lee. The only other
six-figure donation not from Lee came from adult entertainment
entrepreneur Phil Harvey, who gave $100,000.
Parker's donation came shortly after the Yes on 19
campaign committee reported having meager cash on hand heading into the
final weeks before the election. The money from Parker and Harvey went
to a separate committee to fund the Drug Policy Alliance's work on
behalf of the measure.
Much of the money will go toward a get-out-the-vote
campaign targeting young voters and voters of color, Gutwillig said.
Facebook recently came under fire from some marijuana advocates who claimed it was
turning away advertising on the site in support of Proposition 19.
Facebook said in a statement that company policy prohibits images of
drugs, drug paraphernalia or tobacco in paid advertising but that ballot
measure supporters were still free to advertise using different images.