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Cal NORML Release - May 5, 2010
   California collects $100 million in cannabis sales taxes
    The  California Board of Equalization reports
that the state is collecting $50 - $100 million
in sales taxes from medical marijuana, confirming
the estimate previously published in an economic
analysis by California NORML:
http://www.canorml.org/background/OakFinancialReportRelse.htm
(also independently affirmed by Americans for Safe Access).
     California NORML currently estimates the
state's retail market for medical marijuana at
over $1 billion per year in a total adult use
market of $6 billion.  An initiative to legalize
and tax marijuana for adult use will be on this
November's ballot:
http://www.taxcannabis2010.org.
     Opponents of legal marijuana, led by Los
Angeles City Attorney Steve Cooley, have sought
to choke off the state's lucrative medical
marijuana market by claiming that sales are
illegal. The state stands to lose $10s of
millions in sales tax revenues and millions more
in enforcement costs if Southern California's
dispensaries are closed.
     "Marijuana prohibition is a losing proposition
for California's taxpayers," argues Cal NORML
director Dale Gieringer, "On one hand it costs
the state to arrest, prosecute, and imprison
marijuana offenders, on the other it deprives the
state of valuable tax revenues."
     Adult use legalization could net the state
some $1.4 billion in revenues according to   the
state's Legislative Analyst's Office, or over
$1.2 billion  by  California NORML's estimate:
http://www.canorml.org/background/CA_legalization2.html
         - Cal NORML Release 5/5/10