Marijuana merchants snubbed by the finance industry may benefit from growing congressional momentum for a bill letting banks do business with them, an 82-year-old federal ban on the drug notwithstanding.
At present, the gap between federal and state laws often forces owners of cannabis dispensaries and related firms into a financial-services limbo in which they’re unable to open accounts or find them closed in short order.
That leaves the companies more susceptible to robbery and exposes their neighbors to a higher risk of violent crime, a situation Congress faces increasing to pressure to address now that 33 states permit some form of marijuana use.
Last month, the House Financial Services Committee approved the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act, which would give safe harbor to banks and credit unions that provide services to cannabis operations in states that have legalized them. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., introduced companion legislation in the Senate this month, and both bills have bipartisan backing.
“Eliminating cash-only businesses so people can properly manage their cash, use electronic transactions and other types of payment systems, it makes for a much safer environment for everyone, whether it’s business owners, employees, or the people patronizing,” said Neill Franklin, a veteran of both the Maryland State Police and the Baltimore Police Department and executive director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership.
Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn, who has personally experienced the challenges of the current legal conflict, would welcome the change.
His headaches began six years ago when he went to a local branch of a national bank to open an account for his new family-owned medical marijuana dispensary, Takoma Wellness Center, in Washington, D.C. The effort was successful at first, but several months later, the lender’s national office made an inquiry into the account and subsequently closed it.
Kahn went to another bank, and another, only to find himself stuck in a cycle. He would successfully open an account, only to have it closed within a matter of weeks.
In all, Kahn estimates he held accounts at three different national banks, a figure that does not include the 10 to 15 institutions that refused to open one at all.
In his second year of business, Kahn had a stroke of luck: A Maryland bank was willing to provide services to D.C. dispensaries and cultivation centers. Kahn successfully opened and maintained an account with the Maryland institution, though he admits he had to fork over more than the average customer for its banking services.
His dispensary, he said, went through constant audits and had to pay special fees.
“But at least it was a place to park our money,” Kahn said.
Following the 2016 presidential election, however, the Trump administration — and Attorney General Jeff Sessions — brought new policies regarding marijuana that revived Kahn’s dilemma.
The Maryland bank informed Kahn it could no longer work with him or other cannabis businesses in the District due to the “atmosphere,” leaving Takoma Wellness with no place for its account.
“Since then, we’ve been handicapped by the lack of banking and work hard to be able to maintain a business without real banking,” Kahn said. “It’s unnecessary for a legal business to have to go through this and just translates in the end to more inconvenience and higher prices for our patients who are paying entirely out-of-pocket.”
The uncertain access to financial services is not unique to Kahn and Takoma Wellness Center. Because marijuana is an illegal Schedule 1 drug under federal law, banks, credit unions, insurance companies, and other financial institutions are skittish about working with dispensaries or other cannabis-related businesses.
As a result, many firms do much of their business in cash and have had to take steps such as hiring guards or renting secure facilities to house their money.
“It’s definitely problematic,” said Morgan Fox, spokesman for the National Cannabis Industry Association. “The lack of access to bank accounts and things like that, the employees, businesses that happen to work in the cannabis industry that aren’t plant-touching, we’ve seen them denied accounts. It stretches just far beyond people directly involved in cultivation and retail sales.”
Like Kahn, Derek Peterson, CEO of the Terra Tech Corp., a cannabis-focused agriculture company, said he has lost personal bank accounts and corporate bank accounts at least half a dozen times.
“It’s been quite a headwind,” he said. “It’s a challenge for more companies that operate in this space on a day-to-day basis.”
Peterson worries that if the U.S. lags behind other countries in loosening marijuana laws, it could cede a “significant economic driver” as foreign companies sweep in and purchase U.S.-based firms.
Canada, for example, legalized pot in October, and Canopy Growth, a cannabis company based in the country, has already struck a deal to acquire U.S.-based Acreage Holdings for $3.4 billion if and when marijuana is legalized in the U.S.
“If we don’t have the ability to access Wall Street, those businesses are going to Canada, and it will end up owning the U.S. industry, which is a bit of a shame,” Peterson said.
An apparent softening in the Trump administration’s attitude toward the firms, however, may level the playing field.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told lawmakers who questioned him about letting financial institutions offer accounts to legal cannabis firms that he shared their concerns, though he refrained from opining on policy options.
Attorney General William Barr, meanwhile, said during his January confirmation hearing he wouldn’t use federal resources to “go after” marijuana businesses complying with state laws, an about-face from the stance of Sessions, his predecessor.
The conflict between state and federal marijuana laws is “intolerable,” Barr said, explaining that he would support insulating states that have legalized marijuana from federal intervention.
Kahn said the recent comments from top Trump administration officials and efforts in Congress have left him optimistic legal cannabis businesses like his Takoma Wellness Center will be given the same access to banking services as other firms.
“Hopefully, this legislation will get a majority vote and be signed by the president and we will no longer be treated like drug dealers,” he said. “We’ll be treated like businesses.”
