We Dont Want Your Money

Banks Say "No Dice" To Collecting Money From Marijuana Companies

What Are Marijuana Dispensaries Going to do?

 

Owners of a legal pot business count stacks of cash

I am not a pot head, lord knows I tried it a few times in my college years, but I am smart enough to know this is not your typical drug.  In fact, my opinion is it should be legalized.  

Legal marijuana merchants — mainly medical marijuana outlets, starting this year, shops that sell recreational marijuana in Colorado and Washington are grappling with a pressing predicament: Their businesses are conducted almost entirely in cash because it is exceedingly difficult for them to open and maintain bank accounts, accept major credit cards and thus its a cash business.  As you can imagine, there are criminal elements seeking these residence out to snatch estimates that exceed $500,000 in cash easily. 

The problem underscores the nature of federal and state laws that have evolved fitfully as states have legalized some form of marijuana commerce. Though 20 states and the District of Columbia allow either medical or recreational marijuana use with more likely to follow suit (Arizona recently passed the same law) BUT the drug remains illegal under federal law. The Controlled Substances Act, enacted in 1970 classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug, the most dangerous category, which also includes heroin, LSD and ecstasy.  Go figure.

As a result, banks, including state-chartered ones, are reluctant to provide traditional services to marijuana businesses. They fear that federal regulators and law enforcement authorities might punish them, with measures like large fines, for violating prohibitions on money-laundering, among other federal laws and regulations.  Isn't this capitalism at its best.  The laws are passed, We the People say its legal, yet now we are hung up on laws that should also be amended and or abolished. 

“Banking is the most urgent issue facing the legal cannabis industry today,” said Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association in Washington, D.C. Saying legal marijuana sales in the United States could reach $3 billion this year, Mr. Smith added: “So much money floating around outside the banking system is not safe, and it is not in anyone’s interest. Federal law needs to be harmonized with state laws.”

The limitations have created unique burdens for legal marijuana business owners. They pay employees with envelopes of cash. They haul Chipotle and Nordstrom bags containing thousands of dollars in $10 and $20 bills to supermarkets to buy money orders. When they are able to open bank accounts — often under false pretenses — many have taken to storing money in Tupperware containers filled with air fresheners to mask the smell of marijuana.

Lets hope there is a solution in sight.  Perhaps those in Congress will find the right solution as Marijuana lobbyists start popping up all over! 


About the Author: Graham Ware is a recognized #SEO expert with over 5 years of digital marketing experience. Naturally this article is connected to Grahams Google+ profile. It also links to Twitter but that has nothing to do with authorship.