Maybe not what Bill Gates and Warren Buffett had in mind when they created the Giving Pledge, a campaign to convince billionaires to promise to donate at least half of their net worth (but maybe!): Peter B. Lewis, chairman of Progressive Insurance and one of 11 billionaires to take the pledge today, said he would continue to support, among other projects, the movement for medical marijuana:
If there is one area that is taboo for most philanthropists yet exemplifies disastrous public policy, it is our nation’s outdated, ineffective marijuana laws. A majority of Americans are ready to change marijuana laws, yet we continue to arrest our young people for engaging in an activity that is utterly commonplace. I have funded much of the movement to enact laws that give patients access to marijuana as relief for pain and nausea—and have made no secret of being one of those patients myself, using marijuana to help with pain following the amputation of my lower leg.
Intel co-founder Gordon Moore and Neflix CEO Reed Hastings also signed the pledge today according to Bloomberg, along with Manoj Bhargava, Charles R. Bronfman, Dan and Jennifer Gilbert, Jonathan M. Nelson, Jorge M. and Darlene Perez, Claire and Leonard Tow, Albert Lee Ueltschi, and Romesh and Kathleen Wadhwani.
Mr. Bronfman, the former co-chairman of Seagram Co., promised to support the “enhancement of Canadianism,” aligning him, perhaps, with Mr. Lewis.
