{"id":2508,"date":"2021-09-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-09T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/marijuanas-banking-problem-21\/"},"modified":"2023-07-24T11:05:32","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T15:05:32","slug":"marijuanas-banking-problem-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/marijuanas-banking-problem-21\/","title":{"rendered":"El problema bancario de la marihuana"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although recreational or medical sales of cannabis are legal in more than 30 states, pot entrepreneurs are hamstrung by banking restrictions that force them to operate as cash-only businesses and leave them vulnerable to organized crime, reports Forbes.com<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We can’t keep forcing legal cannabis businesses to operate entirely in cash – a nonsensical rule that is an open invitation to robbery and money laundering,” says Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore).<\/span><\/p>\n

Merkley was one of 28 co-sponsors of legislation that would prohibit penalties against institutions that provide banking services to legitimate cannabis-related businesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act<\/span><\/a>, received bipartisan support in the U.S. House of Representatives in March (after being introduced a second time), but is still lost in the congressional pipeline.<\/span><\/p>\n

That has thrust the entrepreneurs of what according to some estimates is already a multi-billion-dollar industry into a legal gray area that evokes the vulnerable underground culture from which it emerged, writes Joan Oleck<\/span><\/a>, author of the Forbes <\/em>article.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last month, an Oklahoma cannabis businessman was found guilty of money laundering in connection with a charge of misrepresenting his company as a “wellness and fitness”  firm in order to be able to process his earnings through a bank account.<\/span><\/p>\n

Victor Ngo faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ngo’s case illustrates the predicament that marijuana entrepreneurs are placed in by federal banking restrictions, according to Mark Lozzi, CEO of Confia,<\/span><\/a> a financial services platform in Irvine, CA.<\/span><\/p>\n

Banks generally shy away from dealing with marijuana companies, partly because the state laws are inconsistent and also because cannabis remains a federally prohibited narcotic, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lozzi and others argue that banking rules need to be overhauled to create a framework of “proper governance” and oversight over marijuana revenues.<\/span><\/p>\n

“As you’re encouraging more activity in the financial system to accept cannabis-related dollars, they need to make sure there’s proper governance and regulation over that activity for a long duration,” he told Forbes.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The stakes are high.<\/span><\/p>\n

Legal cannabis sales in the U.S. hit a record $17.5 billion in 2020, a 46 percent increase compared to the previous year, according to a report<\/span><\/a> by BDSA<\/span><\/a>, a cannabis sales data platform.<\/span><\/p>\n

Marijuana was among the small number of industries reporting high revenue during the pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

Much of the increase was powered by online ordering, reflecting the same surge in business experienced by major online marketers like Amazon, The Crime Report<\/em> found in a survey of industry leaders in June.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

But the checkerboard of pot laws across the country complicates financial accounting.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Oklahoma, which the Denver Post recently characterized<\/span><\/a> as “the hottest place in the country to grow marijuana, recreational sales are still illegal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even so, medical sales are on an upward surge. According to the Post,<\/em> Oklahoma “has the most marijuana patients per capita in the nation.”<\/span><\/p>\n

According to evidence presented in the Oklahoma court, Ngo was making daily cash deposits of up to $10,000. That amount also triggers a bank’s reporting obligations under the federal Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN).<\/span><\/p>\n

The growth of the cannabis industry, combined with its reliance on cash-only sales, makes it an attractive target for organized crime.<\/span><\/p>\n

“[The government] can’t allow the financial system to get cavalier toward the industry,” said Lozzi, who is created a financial network to help cash heavy marijuana companies manage their businesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s still too fresh from being a gray market or illicit drug, and actively operating in the black market. So regulation is going to be necessary more than ever as more banks participate.”<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although recreational or medical sales of cannabis are legal in more than 30 states, pot entrepreneurs are hamstrung by banking restrictions that force them to operate as cash-only businesses and leave them vulnerable to organized crime, reports Forbes.com. “We can’t keep forcing legal cannabis businesses to operate entirely in cash – a nonsensical rule that is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMarijuana\u2019s Banking Problem - Merkley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/marijuanas-banking-problem-21\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Marijuana\u2019s Banking Problem - 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