If you see a CASH ONLY sign at checkout—like a greasy burger joint—do you immediately think, this dive must be a front for a money laundering operation? But U.S. dispensaries only take cash—no credit cards. And many cannabis businesses have difficulty accessing traditional banking services. Does the cash-based industry perpetuate the back-alley stigma of cannabis?
LEAN IN, LISTEN UP AND LEARN:
- How cash-only policies adversely affect cannabis companies
- Why publicly traded banks don’t want to do business with cannabis
- Why a credit union could make financial sense for a cannabis biz
“This plant wasn’t meant to be illegal in the first place.”
The Cannabis Catch-Up is sponsored by Boveda, the leader in two-way humidity control for buds. Subscribe to the Boveda Cannabis YouTube Channel. Or listen to Lance Lambert’s insights live every Monday at 4:20 pm EST on The Todd Shapiro Show (SiriusXM Channel 167).
DROP THESE CANNABIS FACTS WHEN YOU LEAVE A PENNY AT THE REGISTER:
- The STATES Act (AKA Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States) “ensures that each state has the right to determine for itself the best approach to marijuana within its borders.” Plus allows compliant businesses to operate in states that have legalized cannabis and creates an exception for cannabis in the Controlled Substances Act. (1:25)
- SAFE Banking Act of 2019 (short for Secure And Fair Enforcement in Banking) would allow financial institutions to do business with legitimate cannabis-related businesses and service providers. (4:07)
- Publicly traded banks (think Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo) are hesitant to provide financial services to the cannabis industry. Because cannabis is still illegal on the federal level, perhaps banks don’t want to anger the government that bailed them out in the late 00s. (6:46)
- Bipartisan support is growing for SAFE and STATES Acts. (8:15)
- Roughly 2/3 of U.S. citizens think cannabis should be legal on some level. (8:44)
- Hemp and cannabis prohibition has only been around since the early 19th century.(17:56)
“It isn’t even a pro-cannabis conversation, it’s a pro-safety conversation.”
Imagine paying $75,000 a month in taxes IN CASH. Or vaulting large deposits on premises when your business is flush with dough.
Security is costly for a cash-based industry, like cannabis. Cameras, alarms, key-in systems, guards and armored cars are the cost of doing business when traditional banks won’t do business with you.
BOVEDA IN DC FIGHTING FOR CANNABIS BIZ RIGHTS
Longtime supporter of legal cannabis, Oregon Representative Earl Blumenauer is pictured with Boveda’s head of herbal, Lance Lambert. Lance joined several of Boveda’s trade association partners on the hill in Washington, DC. to garner support for the STATES Act, the Safe Banking Act and the 2018 Farm Bill.
Lance was in DC as a member of the Board of Directors for ATACH (the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp). The grassroots organization promotes the expansion, protection and preservation of businesses engaged in the legal trade of industrial, medical and recreational cannabis and hemp-based products.
(And you thought Boveda was all about preventing cannabis companies from losing profits to moisture evaporation.) Boveda backs fair business practices and international standards to ensure the legal cannabis industry can thrive.
