California's alcohol industry is opposing Prop 19. Here's Steve Fox's response:
Unless the beer distributors in California have suddenly developed a philosophical opposition to the use of intoxicating substances, the motivation behind this contribution is clear ... Plain and simple, the alcohol industry is trying to kill the competition. They know that marijuana is less addictive, less toxic and less likely to be associated with violent behavior than alcohol. So they don’t want adults to have the option of using marijuana legally instead of alcohol. Their mission is to drive people to drink.
Pete Guither's two cents:
Rather than trying to get the alcohol industry to stop funding legalization opposition, we need to spread the word that alcohol funds legalization opposition.
Here’s why… When people see that alcohol is afraid of marijuana, they’ll make the connection that marijuana legalization will result in a reduction in alcohol use (and possibly in some of the problems associated with alcohol). This is a positive perception change for us.