Here’s the introduction
Even though there is a growing number of credit unions willing to bank marijuana companies, the drug remains illegal at the federal level. That means any financial institution attempting to serve legal pot businesses does so with the uncertainty of how the Department of Justice may choose to enforce current law.
“What you’re seeing is anticipation of the end of prohibition, so states are becoming more aggressive about issuing their own charters pursuant to providing cannabis banking services,” said Tom Zuber, an attorney with Zuber, Lawler and Del Duca, a California-based law firm working on marijuana legal issues. “Furthermore, politicians are increasingly supporting in a public way the notion of offering cannabis banking – and aggressively so. So that’s different in terms of the intensity of such pubic support by politicians.”
Part of what has driven that support, analysts say, is the fact that in many cases voters in individual states are approving ballot initiatives to legalize the drug. For instance, in November, voters approved measures in Utah and Missouri for medical marijuana while Michigan residents passed a law allowing for recreational use.
And that, many say, could force lawmakers to finally provide clarity for financial institutions intent on providing pot banking services.
“It creates additional pressure for them to stop and take a better look at what the landscape is, because the people in not just one or two states but in almost all the states are approving this,” observed Katrina Skinner, interim president and general counsel at Safe Harbor Services, a pot banking firm launched by Sundie Seefried, CEO of Partner Colorado Credit Union. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense that there continues to be a conflict at the national level, but that’s where the change needs to be made. It certainly puts more pressure on financial institutions that are trying to bank the industry, as well as law enforcement, which now has a bigger market and sales to try to monitor.”
Full article at https://www.cujournal.com/news/patchwork-of-pot-laws-compounds-credit-union-headaches
