You can advertise it on Facebook, but you just can't post pictures of it on facebook – marijuana, of course, which can be a fairly spotty subject for the social networking giant when dealing with those that seek to express their love of "herbal remedies" across their online personas.
Of course, that hasn't stopped those connected with Facebook's development team from jumping on the pro-pot bandwagon themselves. ABC News is reporting that Facebook co-founders Sean Parker and Dustin Moskovitz have both donated fairly significant sums in support of California's Proposition 19 campaign, which seeks to legalize marijuana use across the state come this November's election cycle.
Moskovitz, who left Facebook in 2008 after serving as a vice president at the company, has reportedly donated $70,000 in total toward the measure. Parker—co-founder of Napster and, perhaps more importantly, depicted by pop star Justin Timberlake in the recent release of The Social Network—has kicked in $100,000 to support the measure.
"What's interesting here is that [Parker] is a member of the generation that really gets it," said Drug Policy Alliance spokesman Stephen Gutwillig in an interview with the Associated Press. "We think he's pivotal to the future of drug policy reform in the country."
Approximately $2.4 million has been raised in support of Proposition 19 thus far, reports ABC News. Though significant in that few others have given six-figure (or near-six-figure) donations toward the campaign, Moskovitz's and Parker's gifts pale in comparison to the $1.5 million in support coughed up by Richard Lee, a medical marijuana entrepreneur based out of Oakland, CA.
Parker currently works as a managing partner at The Founders Fund, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage funding for Web 2.0 startups. Moskovitz is the co-founder of the Internet startup Asana, which is currently working on developing a free project management application for use by small businesses and individuals.
by David Murphy PCMag.com October 9, 2010
Facebook Founders Donate $170K to Pro-Pot Initiative | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
