NORML presents $14,000,000,000 to US Treasury from Marijuana Users

Public Protest on steps of Main Post Office in Manhattan, at 8th Ave & 33rd St, today at 4:20pm Eastern!

NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre with members of NY NORML in Manhattan

This morning at 8:00am, NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre presented $14,000,000,000 from the American cannabis consumers to the US Treasury, representing the money that would be saved in law enforcement costs and reaped in taxation every year from the cannabis industry, according to Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron, Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, and 500 more reputable economists.

A separate economic analysis, conducted by George Mason University senior fellow Jon Gettman in 2007, estimates that the total amount of tax revenue derived from cannabis could be far higher. According to Gettman, the retail value of the total U.S. marijuana market now stands at a whopping $113 billion per year. Using standard tax percentages obtained from the Office of Management and Budget, he calculates that the diversion of this market from the taxable economy deprives taxpayers of $31.1 billion annually.

Allen St. Pierre is interviewed by the New York FOX affiliate

Representatives from Fox News, CNN, Sirius Satellite Radio, and a few other media outlets were on hand to cover the 8am event.  There will also be a 4:20pm public protest, and hopefully a few other media outlets will cover that as well.

“We represent the millions of otherwise law-abiding cannabis consumers who are ready, willing, vocal and able to contribute needed tax revenue to America’s struggling economy,” NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said at a press conference at the steps of the general post office in New York City. “All we ask in exchange for our $14 billion is that our government respects our decision to use marijuana privately and responsibly.”

“I would like to ask all Americans to stop for a moment on tax day and ask themselves if this $14 billion could be better spent than on an endless, pointless, counterproductive ‘war’ against a largely harmless plant. We’re eager to start a rational, reasonable debate about changing the marijuana laws, because that’s a debate we know we’ll win,” said David Bienenstock, author of “The Official High Times Pot Smoker’s Handbook”.

“Marijuana is unquestionably America’s number one cash crop. At a time when millions of Americans are out of work, we need to legitimize this multi-billion dollar per year industry and help families get back on their feet, instead of arresting over 800,000 of our own citizens every year for possessing a plant far less harmful than alcohol,” added Danny Danko, Senior Cultivation Editor of High Times Magazine.