Marijuana is the #1 cash crop in the U.S.

Marijuana is the #1 cash crop in the U.S.

"wholesale marijuana sales are at $36 billion annually, which is greater than corn ($23 billion) and vegetables ($11 billion) combined."

"Legalize hemp, tax it at 20%" has been my motto since the 1980's. Finally got a wholesale piece for a number. So 20% of $36 Billion (wholesale - the real number will be higher once retail pries are taxed) is.......

Here's the confirming email from the Marijuana Policy Project:

This has been an exciting day so far. I've just returned to the MPP office after debating a prohibitionist from the Drug Free America Foundation on live national TV on MSNBC. And I have to dash off again in a moment for another appearance, because the segment is, according to an MSNBC producer, “one of the most e-mailed stories today.”

The topic? The new report that MPP co-released yesterday that shows marijuana is the nation's number one cash crop. The report, written by Jon Gettman, Ph.D., explains that wholesale marijuana sales are at $36 billion annually, which is greater than corn ($23 billion) and vegetables ($11 billion) combined.

This report is a damning indictment of the government's marijuana policies. The government has been waging its war on marijuana users since 1937, seizing approximately 4 million marijuana plants — and arresting nearly 800,000 Americans — last year alone. Despite this endless war on the American people, nearly 100 million Americans have tried marijuana, 25 million have used it in the past year, and 15 million have used it in the last month.

The report is generating a great deal of worldwide news coverage, including articles by the BBC, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse; in the Sidney Morning Herald (Australia), The Scotsman, The Times of India, the Irish Times, the China Post (Taiwan), and at least 14 papers in New Zealand; and on the Australian Broadcasting Company — which also interviewed MPP’s director of communications, Bruce Mirken. Nationally, the story has been covered on ABC’s “America This Morning,” NBC’s “Early Today,” CNN’s “American Morning,” CNN Headline News, MSNBC’s “The Situation With Tucker Carlson,” as well as on more than 50 local TV stations across the country. Please click on the following links to coverage in the L.A. Times, in Britain’s The Independent, and on ABC News.

As you contemplate your year-end charitable contributions, would you please consider including MPP or MPP Foundation on your list?

We just learned that MPP Foundation is receiving a $320,000 bequest — as well as a $55,000 donation from an allied nonprofit organization — which has raised our total revenues for the year to $3,258,153. This brings us very close to the $3,500,000 goal for the year.

(As I've mentioned in previous alerts, a major philanthropist has committed to match the first $3.5 million that MPP can raise from the rest of the planet in 2006. This means that your donation today will be doubled.)

I want to thank you in advance for anything you can do to bring us to the $3,500,000 milestone by December 31.

Sincerely,
Rob KampiaExecutive DirectorMarijuana Policy ProjectWashington, D.C.