A bipartisan group of attorneys general from 33 states and five territories have sent a letter to Congress calling for swift passage of the Secure & Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act \u2014 legislation that would reform banking regulations affecting institutions that handle cannabis-related accounts.<\/p>\n
The May 8\u00a0letter<\/a>\u00a0notes that a major new industry is currently barred by federal law from accessing financial services and states that passage of the\u00a0SAFE Banking Act<\/a>\u00a0would serve the aims of \u201cprotecting public safety and bringing grey market financial activities into the regulated banking sector.\u201d<\/p>\n All in all, 33 states and several U.S. territories have legalized medical marijuana. \u201cHowever, because the federal government classifies marijuana as an illegal substance, banks providing services to state-licensed cannabis businesses\u2026 could find themselves subject to criminal and civil liability under the federal Controlled Substances Act and certain federal banking statutes,\u201d the letter says. \u201cThis risk has significantly inhibited the ability of financial institutions to provide services to these businesses and companies.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter stresses that \u201c[d]espite the contradictions between federal and state law, the marijuana industry continues to grow rapidly. Industry analysts estimate 2017 sales at $8.3 billion and expect those totals to exceed $25 billion by 2025. Yet those revenues are handled outside of the regulated banking system.\u201d<\/p>\n The AGs note that this disparity has absurd consequences: \u201cBusinesses are forced to operate on a cash basis. The resulting grey market makes it more difficult to track revenues for taxation and regulatory compliance purposes, contributes to a public safety threat as cash-intensive businesses are often targets for criminal activity, and prevents proper tracking of billions in finances across the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter also emphasizes that the signatories are not endorsing \u201cthe legalization of medical or retail marijuana in those jurisdictions that choose not to pursue such an approach.\u201d Nonetheless, \u201cthe reality of the situation requires federal rules that permit a sensible banking regime for legal businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n The SAFE Banking Act would create a \u201csafe harbor\u201d for financial institutions that service the cannabis industry. \u201cAn effective safe harbor would bring billions of dollars into the banking sector, enabling law enforcement; federal, state and local tax agencies; and cannabis regulators in 33 states and several territories to more effectively monitor cannabis businesses and their transactions.\u201d<\/p>\n One glaring absurdity of the status quo is that the booming cannabis industry is heavily reliant on cash in a world economy that is fast going cashless. National Public Radio<\/a>\u00a0last month ran a report on the dilemma, tellingly entitled \u201cBags of Cash, Armed Guards and Wary Banks: The Edgy Life of a Cannabis Company CFO.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n Profiled is Tom DiGiovanni, chief financial officer with\u00a0Canndescent<\/a>, a firm supplying pre-loaded vape-pens, connoisseur bud, high-end oils and other such posh products throughout California. But instead of \u201cporing over balance sheets and bank statements,\u201d his job \u201cinvolves managing bags of cash by the millions which must be counted, then hauled in armored vehicles.\u201d He is described going about his daily business in an \u201cunmarked armored van where there\u2019s a metal cage to protect the revenues for his company\u2026 from would-be thieves.\u201d<\/p>\n Along with prominent signatories such as Xavier Becerra of California and Letitia James of New York, the attorneys general letter was signed by Edward Manibusan of the Northern Mariana Islands, which last year became the\u00a0first U.S. territory to legalize<\/a>\u00a0cannabis;\u00a0Leevin Taitano Camacho of Guam, which\u00a0followed suit<\/a>\u00a0earlier this year; Denise George of the U.S. Virgin Islands, which\u00a0legalized medical marijuana<\/a>\u00a0this year; and Wanda V\u00e0zquez Garced of Puerto Rico, which\u00a0legalized medical marijuana<\/a>\u00a0in 2015.<\/p>\n The SAFE Banking Act is currently before the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, having already\u00a0cleared<\/a>\u00a0the House Financial Services Committee in March. The bill\u2019s co-sponsor, Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a Colorado Democrat,\u200f\u00a0tweeted<\/a> his appreciation for the attorney\u2019s general letter. \u201cThis support underscores the need to get cash off our streets and allow legitimate cannabis businesses access to the banking system once and for all,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>, do your representatives support the SAFE Banking Act?<\/p>\n The post Majority of Attorneys General Call for Passage of SAFE Banking Act<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A bipartisan group of attorneys general from 33 states and five territories have sent a letter to Congress calling for swift passage of the Secure & Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act \u2014 legislation that would reform banking regulations affecting institutions that handle cannabis-related accounts. The May 8\u00a0letter\u00a0notes that a majorContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,459,108,1127,3886,9551,90,10032,857,421,7565,757,10033],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35466"}],"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\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35467,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35466\/revisions\/35467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Contradiction Between State and Federal Law<\/h4>\n
A Cash Industry in a Digital World<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Majority of Attorneys General Call for Passage of SAFE Banking Act<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"