Banks say no to marijuana money, legal or not
Banking is the most urgent issue facing the legal cannabis industry today
The New York Times (US)
Tuesday, January 11, 2014
Tuesday, January 11, 2014
Legal marijuana merchants — mainly medical marijuana outlets but also, 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, and thus accept credit cards. The problem underscores the patchwork nature of federal and state laws that have evolved fitfully as states have legalized some form of marijuana commerce. Banks 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.
