Committees backing ballot issues that will be in front of Colorado voters next month have taken in another $3.4 million in the latest filings reported to TRACER, the state’s campaign finance database.

But you won’t find anything in TRACER to tie a block of recent TV and social media ads that advocate for the use of psychedelics to treat veterans with PTSD to the ballot measure that asks voters to decriminalize those substances.

That ballot measure, Proposition 122, is backed by the issue committee Natural Medicine Colorado, which got the largest donation in the past two weeks. The issue committee had spent down most of its funds by mid-September but got an infusion in early October of $1.1 million.

Proposition 122 decriminalize the use of “magic mushrooms” and would allow its distribution within licensed “healing centers.”

The biggest donor to Natural Medicine in the past two weeks was the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Voter Information, a Democratic-aligned dark-money group that does not disclose its donors, with a contribution of $920,000. That organization is a 501(c)4 that was investigated by ProPublica in 2020 for voter registration mailers supporting Democrats and opposing Republicans that ProPublica said “confused” voters. 

New Approach PAC, which has funded Proposition 122 from its signature gathering phase, has now contributed $3.1 million to the committee, including $175,000 in the past two weeks.

The ads focusing on veteran treatment are funded by the Heroic Hearts Project, which advocates for use of psychedelics to treat former military service members with PTSD. Those ads do not advocate for Proposition 122.

They do have something in common though: New Approach’s biggest funder, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, led by CEO David Bronner, a major backer of psychedelics reform campaigns, is also a financial supporter of the Heroic Hearts Project. 

A similar approach was used in Oregon in 2020 when voters in that state were asked to decriminalize psilocybin and other hallucinogens. Heroic Hearts ran ads in that state touting the benefits of hallucinogens to treat veterans’ suffering from PTSD but didn’t directly advocate for the Oregon ballot measure, which voters approved. 

Heroic Hearts’ ads do show up in Denver TV stations’ FCC political filings under “non-candidate issue ads,” the same category that includes ads run by Natural Medicine Colorado to support Proposition 122. The Heroic Hearts ads are running in the Colorado Springs and Pueblo TV markets, but not the Natural Medicine ads. 

The only committee opposed to Proposition 122, Protect Colorado Kids, has raised less than $1,000 and its only spending to date is on a website.

Proposition FF

The effort to allow all Colorado kids in public schools a free lunch has now raised about $1.6 million but has almost $1 million still in the bank as the campaign season heads into its final month. Proposition FF would cap deductions on individual incomes above $300,000, and the revenue would pay for grant programs for schools which would provide free meals to all public school students.

Propositions 124, 125 and 126

The issue committee that has raised the most money during the 2022 election cycle is backing Proposition 125, which would allow wine to be sold in grocery stores. The committee Wine In Grocery Stores has now raised about $12 million, including $428,000 in the last two weeks, primarily from DoorDash, Instacart and grocery and convenience stores, including Albertsons Safeway, 7-11 and Target. The same committee is also the major supporter of Proposition 126, which would allow grocery stores and other retailers to deliver alcohol through third-party services. 

The opposition committee, Keeping Colorado Local, has raised just over $700,000 to fight all three alcohol-related ballot measures. Those donations have come from retail liquor stores along the Front Range.

Coloradans for Consumer Choice and Retail Fairness backs Proposition 124 to expand the number of licenses a retail liquor store owner could possess. The committee has now raised nearly $8 million, with more than $6 million from the Maryland congressman and his brother who own Colorado Fine Wines & Spirits, also known as Total Wines. That includes another $800,000 donated to the committee in the past two weeks.

Proposition 123

Coloradans for Affordable Housing Now, which backs Proposition 123, has now raised $5.25 million to persuade voters to let go of some of their TABOR refunds to fund affordable housing initiatives in local communities. The committee raised $340,000 in the last several weeks, largely from the Urban Land Conservancy and Civitas Resources, an oil and natural gas company.