WASHINGTON–With marijuana-related issues on the ballot in numerous states this year, the number of financial institutions working with pot businesses is up 45%, even though the sale of marijuana remains a federal crime.
Despite the increase in financial institutions willing to do business with marijuana merchants, the merchants told Reuters there are not nearly enough banks willing to take their cash, and many continue to stash cash in storage units, back offices and armored vans.
On Nov. 8 there are measures on ballots in California, Florida and seven other states that would bring to 34 the number of states sanctioning pot for medical or recreational use, or both. Reuters cited one estimate that said approval of those ballot initiatives would push annual sales to $23 billion.
Nearly 600 dispensary robberies have been reported in Denver since recreational pot was legalized in Colorado three years ago.
"There's not a single human being who thinks there is any benefit at all in forcing marijuana business to be conducted on an all-cash basis," Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat from Oregon who has called for the decriminalization of marijuana since coming to Congress in 1996, told Reuters.
In 2014, the Justice Department said it would not prosecute banks for serving state-sanctioned marijuana businesses, even though the Treasury Department simultaneously requires FIs to report suspected drug crimes.
The Treasury Department reported that 301 banks are currently serving marijuana businesses. Among them is Partner Colorado Credit Union, which was cited in the Reuters report.
“Our program is designed with eyes on the business, eyes on the owner, eyes on the money,” PCCU CEO Sundie Seefried told Reuters.