T<\/span>he biggest problem with marijuana legalization doesn\u2019t have anything to do with marijuana. It has everything to do with banks \u2014 as in banks don\u2019t want to handle any money having to do with legal cannabis sales.<\/p>\n Dispensaries in the United States know this all too well,<\/a> and are compensating by hiring armored cars, paying all their taxes in cash, and hiding the rest.<\/p>\n In Uruguay,<\/a> the first nation to legalize cannabis at the national level, cannabis is available over-the-counter in pharmacies \u2014 many of whom say that they\u2019ve been offered a choice by their financial institutions: Sell weed and lose your bank account, or quit with the reefer and be able to make deposits and process credit card payments.<\/p>\n You can tell where this is going. Pharmacies are saying that they\u2019ll have to stop selling marijuana, which puts a serious kink in the country\u2019s plans to have a legal marijuana market. By extension, this snafu also has the potential to cause a serious problem for any other country planning to legalize the drug.<\/p>\n You\u2019d think someone would have worked this out with the banks beforehand. But, no.<\/p>\n \u201cThe truth is we did not know\u2026 that this could happen,\u201d Economy Minister Danilo Astori was quoted as saying by La Republica newspaper, according to Agence France-Press.<\/p>\n But according to the banks<\/a>, this isn\u2019t their choice. Nor is it their idea. They\u2019re merely reacting to international pressure.<\/p>\n Other banks in other countries are telling Uruguayan banks that handle accounts from weed-selling pharmacies are threatening to halt any further business unless the weed money is eliminated. Since the thing about global finance is that it is global, the threat is existential. Banks also have to make a choice: drop their pharmacy accounts, or make sure those accounts are clean.<\/p>\n And so banks are choosing to stay in business.<\/p>\n This situation is exacerbating an already limited market in the South American nation. According to AFP, there are only 16 pharmacies selling marijuana in the country of 3.5 million.<\/p>\n Officials say they\u2019re looking for a solution\u2026 in all the wrong places.<\/p>\n As per AFP:<\/p>\n Another of the architects of the law, Julio Calzada, said Uruguay will now have to talk with U.S. banks to seek a way around the restrictions.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThere are alternatives,\u201d he said, \u201cbut not in Uruguay.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n This won\u2019t go well. The United States of America \u2014 the same USA that, officially, believes marijuana is dangerous, addictive, and of no use medically \u2014 is not going to be Uruguay\u2019s savior. And nation-building isn\u2019t illegal under federal U.S. law. Marijuana is.<\/p>\n Marijuana sales began in Uruguay last month, the culmination of a legalization process that began in 2013. For legalization to encounter such an insurmountable road block early on could spell trouble \u2014 if not disaster \u2014 for plans in Canada <\/a>to create a legal marijuana marketplace.<\/p>\n Banks, it\u2019s always the banks.<\/p>\n TELL US, <\/strong>have you been negatively affected by the lack of banking solutions for cannabis sales?<\/p>\n The post Bank Kerfuffle Threatens Uruguay Legalization<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Legal cannabis in Uruguay encounters a banking snag. The biggest problem with marijuana legalization doesn\u2019t have anything to do with marijuana. It has everything to do with banks \u2014 as in banks don\u2019t want to handle any money having to do with legal cannabis sales. Dispensaries in the United StatesContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[165,290,50,80,170,712],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18876"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18876"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18877,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18876\/revisions\/18877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Bank Kerfuffle Threatens Uruguay Legalization<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"