Billionaire caught with dope in NZ backs marijuana campaign

A dope-smoking American billionaire caught importing marijuana to New Zealand six years ago has funded a petition to force a referendum on whether the Californian city of Santa Cruz should effectively decriminalise the drug.

Ohio-based billionaire Peter Benjamin Lewis contributed US$32,000 to fund the November 7 referendum which may force Santa Cruz police officers to focus on crimes other than adult marijuana sales or use on private property, and would not allow officers to participate in regional marijuana busts.

Lewis, 71, whose father founded the Progressive Insurance Corp., is ranked as one of the world's richest people by Forbes magazine.

He was charged in Auckland with importing cannabis during the America's Cup in 2000, but escaped a New Zealand conviction after giving US$53,000 to a local drug rehabilitation centre.

The New Zealand Herald fought for eight months to overturn a court order granting him name suppression.

Mr Lewis' funding of the bid to relieve law enforcement pressure on marijuana in Santa Cruz was disclosed by county elections officials, the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper reported.

- NZPA