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Marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in America (behind only alcohol and tobacco)
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Who Wants To Pay Taxes? Cannabis Consumers Do!

This coming Tax Day, April 15, millions of Americans lament paying their state and federal income taxes. This particular Tax Day, there are hundreds of organized 'Tea Parties' where citizens will actually protest paying income taxes by dumping tea into local bodies of water (apparently inspired by CNBC's Rick Santelli's recent rant advocating such).

However, what group of citizens in America are standing before the government and media, jumping up and down, effectively begging to be taxed?

The estimated 35-40 million cannabis  consumers, joined by non-consuming anti-prohibitionists, are calling on the government this Wednesday, Tax Day,  to end 70-years of a failed prohibition, and replace it with logical alternatives to prohibition--such as actually controlling cannabis production, sales and use via taxation.

In Massachusetts, how does the commonwealth 'control' deadly, addictive and dangerous products like alcohol and tobacco? Last I checked they employ a decidedly low tech, low cost and effective solution: a tax stamp

Found on the bottom of the cellophane packaging on every pack of 'coffin nails' lawfully sold at the retail level in Massachusetts is what? A little tax stamp.

When a bottle of liquor is lawfully purchased in Massachusetts, what does the adult consumer have to do to access the dangerous drug? They have to physically break the state-issued and coded tax stamp to take the cap off the bottle.

Who says state and federal government can't actually control 'drugs'? Ever heard of the division of the US Treasury called BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms)?

At 8:00 AM on Wednesday, April 15, Tax Day, representatives from NORML, including myself, will convene a press conference in New York City, at the steps of the main Post Office in Manhattan, where we will present a check for $14 billion to the US Treasury, which represents the annual costs of cannabis prohibition conservatively arrived at by Harvard economics professor Jeffrey Miron.

I say conservative because I've seen credible estimates that $14 billion of cannabis is consumed annually in California alone.

In these tough, seriously recessionary times in our economy--just as with the ending of alcohol prohibition brought on by the Great Depression--elected policy makers need to look for untapped revenue sources and to reduce government expenses, and there are millions of Americans ready and able to help reduce the burden on taxpayers and cut ineffective government spending by replacing cannabis prohibition with cannabis control.

Check out NORML's webpage on Tax Day for updates and media interviews.

Allen St. Pierre is a native of Chatham and the executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) in Washington, D.C.

 

 

 

 

8 comments
Blog posts and comments are entirely the thoughts and ideas of the people who write them and in no way represent the views of CapeCodToday.com, eCape, Inc., or its employees or owners.

04/13/09 @ 6:57 am
bittersweet [Member] writes:
Great idea!
Stop ruining lives for nothing, and make a sh#t-load of money for the state, which they claim they need so badly.
It is a no-brainer,unless you somehow have a stake in keeping marijuana illegal.
Which I can think of a few!
Good luck Allen.
If they turn this down, it is very very suspect.
04/14/09 @ 3:57 pm
therastafearian [Member] writes:
can anyone tell me what channel this press conference will be on? i would love to listen to them try to hate one last time...

i really do have full confidence in this plan, hopefully it will go on without a hitch and i can stop being scared to drive down the road.
04/14/09 @ 3:58 pm
therastafearian [Member] writes:
unless of course our government is retarded
04/14/09 @ 4:36 pm
maverick [Member] writes:
Is WB napping? A double post with no response? therastafearian must favor Cape Wind. Most cannabis users do.
04/14/09 @ 6:01 pm
musclecar freak [Member] writes:
Cannabis PROHIBITION FUNDS MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS who are profiting by the BILLIONS each year. Cannabis PROHIBITION puts them in full control of distribution with a focus on young buyers without asking for ID (and Obama says that if those BILLIONS were diverted to a system of cannabis regulation and taxation it wouldn’t be a good way to help the US economy? COME ON!). Cannabis PROHIBITION is the primary cause of large scale turf wars that CLAIMS THE LIVES OF THOUSANDS PER YEAR, including innocent bystanders young and old and police officers.
04/14/09 @ 6:01 pm
musclecar freak [Member] writes:
BECAUSE OF cannabis PROHIBITION there is WIDESPREAD CORRUPTION within law enforcement, the drug court system (including drug treatment programs), the prison industrial complex and politicians that are addicted to the funding these establishments “donate” to continue the UTTER FAILURE that is THE WAR on (non-alcoholic, non-tobacco, non-pharmaceutical) DRUGS. Then there are legitimate members of the above mentioned establishments profiting from cannabis PROHIBITION laws. This promotes cannabis PROHIBITION loyalty and fuels reluctance to change cannabis laws which are known to cause MUCH MORE HARM then cannabis use alone.
04/14/09 @ 6:03 pm
musclecar freak [Member] writes:
BECAUSE OF cannabis PROHIBITION law enforcement is arresting users to the tune of 800,000 per year, criminalizing them with life long impacts for a non-violent act. Unfortunately low income intercity young men of color are disproportionately targeted for such abuse. Some receive prison terms that turn them from non-violent drug offenders into well educated criminals taught by the finest of the bread. And since they can’t get a good job when they get out of prison due to the record they now carry (thanks to archaic cannabis PROHIBITION punishments) they are forced to put that education to work in the streets.
04/14/09 @ 6:05 pm
musclecar freak [Member] writes:
Cannabis PROHIBITION and its supporters are the SOLE cause of all that is mentioned above! And they say “What about the message we are sending our children?” NO CHANCE I’M FALLING FOR THAT DECEPTIVE HYPOCRISY!

PROHIBITION is not controlling cannabis distribution but giving up ALL control of cannabis distribution to drug cartels and their dealers that do not ask for ID.

END CANNABIS PROHIBITION NOW! REGULATION AND TAXATION FOR CONTROL!
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About This Blog

Allen St. Pierre is a native of Chatham and the executive director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) in Washington, D.C.
NORML's mission is to move public opinion sufficiently to achieve the repeal of marijuana prohibition so that the responsible use of cannabis by adults is no longer subject to penalty.

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