California campaign finance disclosures reportedly show that the campaign to defeat marijuana legalization is being funded in part by the alcohol industry which does not relish the idea of joints replacing shots as intoxicants of choice.

The California Beer and Beverage Distributors contributed $10,000 to the No on Prop. 19 campaign, also known as “Public Safety First.” The industry has also spent considerable funds to fight other pot-related legal change, including opposition to Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act (NORA), which attempted to reduce marijuana possession from a misdemeanor to an infraction.

This is something truly out of the movie “Thank You For Smoking.”

Polly: Did you see the coverage the fetal alcohol people got themselves over the weekend? They made it seem like we were encouraging pregnant women to drink. I’m surprised I didn’t get kidnapped to my way to work this morning. NICK: I don’t think people from the alcoholic beverage industry need to worry about being kidnapped just yet.

Polly: Pardon me?

Nick: Look, I mean, nothing personal, but tobacco generates a little more heat than alcohol.

Polly: Oh, this is news.

Nick:My product puts away 475,000 a year.

Polly: Okay, now, 475 is a legitimate number.

Nick: OK 435,000. 1,200 a day. How many alcohol deaths a year? 100,000, tops? That’s what, 270 a day? Wow, 270 people, a tragedy. Excuse me if I don’t see terrorists getting excited about kidnapping anybody from the alcohol industry.

Nick: How many gun-related deaths a year in the U.S.?

Bobby Jay: 11,000.

Nick: Thirty a day. That’s less than passenger car mortalities. No terrorist would bother with either of you.

Source: Huffington Post