Join NORML In New York To Present IRS With $14 Billion Dollar Check!

Do you live in the New York Metro area? Are you a Medical Marijuana advocate, or perhaps just a 420 Stoner working/grass rooting for Legalization? If you fit any of these descriptors, head down to the General Post Office in Midtown Manhattan and be a part of NORML's festivities as they present a ceremonial TAX check for $14 billion to the US Treasury Department. Here is their press release on the events of the day...one at eight in the morning, and the other at four in the afternoon.

From NORML.ORG:

Marijuana Consumers Demand to Pay Taxes!
$14 billion dollar check presented to US Treasury represents "tax and regulate" boost to economy

New York, NY: On April 15, better known as Tax Day, at 8:00 AM representatives and supporters of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), including the organization's national director Allen St. Pierre, will stand on the steps of the General Post Office in Midtown Manhattan and present a check for $14 billion to the US Treasury Department.

The check total is an estimate of what American taxpayers spend every year to maintain marijuana prohibition. According to the report "The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition in the United States", Americans spend some $6 billion on law enforcement costs related to enforcing marijuana laws. Taxing and regulating the production and sale of cannabis like alcohol products would reduce these costs while raising an estimated $8 billion in new tax revenue. That's according to Nobel Prize Winner Milton Friedman and over 500 other accredited economists.

"On a day when so many Americans lament having to pay state and federal income taxes, we're representing America's millions of otherwise law-abiding cannabis consumers—as well as supportive non-consumers—who're ready, willing, vocal and able to contribute this huge sum to our struggling economy, while providing truly 'green' jobs and allowing police to focus on more important priorities," says Allen St. Pierre, NORML's Executive Director. "All we ask in exchange for our $14 billion is the right to smoke our pot responsibly and in peace—just in the same way as the millions of daily consumers of alcohol products in our country."

WHO
Representatives of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, including NORML's national director Allen St. Pierre

WHAT
American cannabis consumers and anti-prohibitionists present a $14 billion check to the US Treasury.

WHEN
April 15th, 2009 at 8:00 AM (press conference with mock check) and 4:20 PM presentation of check with NORML supporters.

WHERE
The steps of the General Post Office in Manhattan
441 Eighth Ave
New York, NY

CONTACT FOR INTERVIEWS:

• Allen St. Pierre, NORML, 202-483-5500, media@norml.org


• Ruth Liebesman-Martinuk, Esq., NY NORML, 212-804-5740, NewYorkNorml@aol.com


• David Bienenstock, author of 'The Official High Times Pot Smoker's Handbook' and a senior editor at the magazine, 212-387-0500

References regarding the economics of cannabis legalization:

• http://www.canorml.org/background/CA_legalization2.html


• http://www.drugscience.org/Archive/bcr4/exec_summ.html


• http://www.cantaxreg.com (See: Revenue Potential and Economic Analysis, and Background Materials.