Calaveras Cannabis-Motherlode's Marijuana Activism Website: Recreational Marijuana Use

Of all the uses of the cannabis plant, recreational use is by far the most controversial. The following information is designed to demonstrate the futility of prohibition, the wasted resources, lives, and tax dollars, and the better to manage it – through tax and regulation.

Marijuana: America's 42 Billion Dollar Question
Forbes.com Article - Link

The U.S. marijuana (trade) is a $113 billion annual business that costs taxpayers $41.8 billion in enforcement costs and lost tax revenues, according to a study to be published later Monday.

The study, "Lost Taxes and Other Costs of Marijuana Laws," by Jon Gettman, contends that marijuana sales are mostly the province of teenagers and young adults. His numbers also imply that the industry is supported, in both demand prices, by a relatively few extremely heavy users.

42 Billion TAX Dollars to combat a plant that causes NO DEATHS, has Medicinal Uses recognized by the AMA, has Agricultural Uses, and is used by 25 million Americans; and those consume an estimated total of 31 million pounds of pot EVERY YEAR.

As explained by a new report in the Bulletin of Cannabis Reform the illegality of marijuana costs local, state, and the federal government billions in tax revenue. According to the federal Office of Management and Budget 28.7% of the gross domestic product – the total economic output of the country in a year – ends up in government's hands as tax revenue. So, the diversion of money into the marijuana market costs the government $31.1 billion annually.

Marijuana arrests account for 5.54% of all arrests in the United States, which spends $193 billion annually on its criminal justice system. As such, marijuana arrests account for $10.7 billion annually in criminal justice expenses.

Add it all up, and marijuana prohibition costs the US $42 billion every year.

Fair and Balanced Look - Marijuana effects on the body - Website
Is Marijuana Good For you? Time Magazine Article
Cannabis the Miracle Drug - Study

So do you wanna get high?

A few famous stoners - apparently worth 41 Billion Tax Dollars to prosecute.

12 Presidents were stoners:
- Barack Obama: "When I was a kid, I inhaled. That was the point." In his first book, Dreams From My Father, Obama
- George Bush: "I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions. You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried."
- Bill Clinton: "When I was in England, I experimented with marijuana a time or two, and I didn' t like it. I didn't inhale and never tried it again."
- John F. Kennedy: Kennedy used medicinal marijuana for his back pain and planned on legalizing it in his second term. Source: John F. Kennedy: A Biography by Michael O'Brien
- Abraham Lincoln: "Two of my favorite things are sitting on my front porch smoking a pipe of sweet hemp, and playing my Hohner harmonica."
- These presidents, as Generals, reportedly smoked with their troops during the civil war:
Zachary Taylor, Andrew Jackson, Franklin Pierce who wrote to his family that marijuana was "about the only good thing" about the war.
- James Monroe began smoking weed as an Ambassador to France and continued smoking it until he was 73.
- Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and James Madison all grew hemp on their plantations.

Entrepreneurs and Scientists
- George Washington Carver – Grew industrial hemp
- Bill Gates - VIP Link
Other Politicians
- Arnold Schwarzenegger: As governor, Schwarzenegger doesn't seem to have sympathy for those who suffer arrest for what he considered harmless fun. In 1977, he told Oui magazine, "I enjoy grass and hash, no hard drugs. But the point is that I do what I feel like doing." Those were the days. In October 2007, Arnold was asked by Britain's GQ about the conflict between his stance on drugs and his former drug use. "That is not a drug. It's a leaf," Schwarzenegger said of marijuana. VIP Link
- Peggy Noonan – VIP Link
- William F. Buckley – VIP Link
- Sarah Palin – VIP Link
"I can't claim a Bill Clinton and say that I never inhaled…"
- Newt Gingrich - "We believe licensed physicians are competent to employ marijuana, and patients have a right to obtain marijuana legally, under medical supervision, from a regulated source. …Federal policies do not reflect a factual or balanced assessment of marijuana's use as a medicant." Gingrich admitted that he smoked marijuana when he was in college. He stated in 1995 article from The Economist, "That was a sign we were alive and in graduate school in that era."
- Al Gore:
"During my junior and senior year of college, it was looked at in the same way moonshine was looked at in Prohibition days."
Artists and Athletes
- Stephen King: "I think that marijuana should not only be legal, I think it should be a cottage industry. It would be wonderful for the state of Maine. There's some pretty good homegrown dope. I'm sure it would be even better if you could grow it with fertilizers and have greenhouses…"
-Montel Williams – Medicinal Marijuana patient and host of the popular daytime talk show, Montel. Montel uses marijuana to combat the extreme pain that comes with MS.
-Bill Maher, host of the popular political debate show Real Time with Bill Maher, not only uses but is on the advisory board of NORML
The List Goes On and On
Very Important Potheads

Dan Aykroyd Candy Barr John Belushi Lewis Black Michael Bloomberg Paul Bowles Bill Bradley Richard Branson Pierce Brosnan Christopher Buckley Lord Buckley Aaron Carter Jack Carter Fidel Castro Neal Cassady Bing Crosby David Crosby Macaulay Culkin Matt Damon Rodney Dangerfield Bob Denver John Denver Alexandre Dumas Melissa Etheridge Walker Evans Richard Feynman Ford family Errol Flynn Morgan Freeman Art Garfunkel Ringo Garza Will Geer Gilberto Gil Alan Ginsberg Jackie Gleason Larry Hagman Gary Hall Woody Harrelson Ed Harris John Hay Daryl Hannah Paris Hilton David Hockney Whitney Houston Victor Hugo Chrissie Hynde Jefferson Airplane John Kerry Queen Latifah Heath Ledger Phil Lesh John Lennon Lindsay Lohan Jack London Courtney Love Norman Mailer Bob Marley Groucho Marx Matthew McConaughey Margaret Mead Mezz Mezzrow Paul McCartney Frances McDormand George Michael John Stuart Mill Robert Mitchum Randy Moss Willie Nelson Jack Nicholson M. Scott Peck Pablo Picasso Popeye the Sailorman Francois Rabelais Ross Rebagliati Arthur Rimbaud Diego Rivera Carl Sagan Susan Sarandon William Shakespeare Donna Shalala
Sarah Silverman Robert Smith Aaron Sorkin Sting Oliver Stone Charlize Theron Margaret Trudeau Pierre Elliot Trudeau John Trudell Ted Turner Oliver Twist Queen Victoria Pancho Villa Prince Harry Ricky Williams William Butler Yeats

Good Marijuana Documentaries

A few marijuana photo galleries

Marijuana is used. Isn't it time to Tax it?
It's Time to Reform California's Cannabis Laws!

California voters believe that our laws criminalizing cannabis (marijuana) have failed. According to an April statewide Field Poll, a majority, 56 percent support legalizing cannabis.

The time for reform is now.

The Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 will:

• Regulate cannabis like alcohol: Allow adults 21 and older in California to possess up to one ounce of cannabis

• Give local governments the ability to tax and regulate the sale of cannabis to adults 21 and older

• Generate billions of dollars in revenue to fund what matters most in California: jobs, healthcare, public safety, schools and libraries, state parks, roads, transportation, and more

http://www.taxcannabis.org