Phil Harvey Seeds Ballot Measure to Legalize Pot with $100,000

LOS ANGELES—One of adult entertainment’s great freedom fighters has joined the California battle to decriminalize marijuana. Adam & Eve founder Phil Harvey, long known for his philanthropy as well as his support for free speech issues, has donated $100,000 to the Drug Policy Action Committee to Tax and Regulate Marijuana, which is backing Proposition 19, the ballot initiative to legalize marijuana for adults over 21, allow small residential cultivation, and permit local governments to tax and regulate pot sales. Prop 19 will be on the November ballot.

AVN reached Harvey at his Washington, D.C., office, and ran the Sacramento Bee’s headline by him for a reaction. It read, “Sex toys retailer pumps $100,000 into California marijuana push.”

“It’s not wrong, but it’s a little misleading in that I made the contribution to the DPA, and with my concurrence that’s where they put it to work,” he said. “So the headline is not incorrect, but it was a slightly more circuitous route.

“I’m not uncomfortable with [this donation] at all,” he added. “I think it would be a great advance for the United States if Prop 19 were to pass.”

According to the Bee, Harvey is the only listed donor on the committee website. The paper also recounted Harvey’s philanthropic accomplishments.

“Harvey is also a philanthropist involved in family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention,” the paper reported. “He is president of DKT International, which distributes condoms and contraceptives to poor countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.”