Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan Give $500,000 to Oregon Ballot Measure Seeking Drug Decriminalization

If it passes in November, the ballot measure will make possession of a controlled substance no more than a class E violation.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces the plan to make Facebook more private at Facebook's Developer Conference on April 30, 2019. (Anthony Quintano)
By Tess Riski

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, co-founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donated $500,000 on Oct. 1 to Ballot Measure 110, which seeks to decriminalize possession of some hard drugs in Oregon.

The measure would also establish a drug addiction treatment and recovery program.

The Chan Zuckerberg donations raise Ballot Measure 110's cash contributions to $1.4 million. In contrast, the ballot's opponents have raised $12,800 in cash contributions and secured a $40,100 loan.

According to the Oregon secretary of state website, this appears to be the first time the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has contributed to an Oregon race or ballot measure. Earlier this year, the group gave a combined $5.5 million to two California ballot measures.

If it passes in November, Measure 110 will make possession of a controlled substance no more than a class E violation, with a maximum fine of $100. The drugs that would be effectively decriminalized include heroin (1 gram or less), cocaine (2 grams or less), methamphetamine (2 grams or less), MDMA (less than 1 gram or five pills), LSD (less than 40 user units), psilocybin (less than 12 grams), methadone (less than 40 user units) and oxycodone (less than 40 pills, tablets or capsules). It would also establish a drug treatment plan funded in part by the state's cannabis tax.

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