Marijuana consumers present a $14 billion dollar check to the US Treasury to represent "tax and regulate" boost to economy from legalizing cannabis.

What would Americas 25 million regular marijuana consumers do with $14 billion? How about pay taxes gladly.

Thats the message the Executive Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) delivered this morning, on tax day, during a press conference on the steps of the General Post Office in Midtown Manhattan, along with an oversized $14 billion check made out to the US Treasury Department.

The check total is a conservative 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 annually on marijuana-related law enforcement. Taxing and regulating the production and sale of cannabis like alcohol products would eliminate these costs, while raising an additional $8 billion in new tax revenue each year, according to the report, which was endorsed by Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman and over 500 other accredited economists.

Supporters of a tax and regulate approach to marijuana will gather at the General Post Office (441 Eighth Ave) again today at 4:20 PM to formally present the check.