Eric Holder Just ANNOUNCED A MAJOR SHIFT On U.S. Marijuana Policy

[Segami]

Jan 23 (Reuters) - U.S. treasury and law enforcement agencies will soon issue regulations opening banking services to state-sanctioned marijuana businesses even though cannabis remains classified an illegal narcotic under federal law, Attorney General Eric Holder said on Thursday. Holder said the new rules would address problems faced by newly licensed recreational pot retailers in Colorado, and medical marijuana dispensaries in other states, in operating on a cash-only basis, without access to banking services or credit. Proprietors of state-licensed marijuana distributors in Colorado and elsewhere have complained of having to purchase inventory, pay employees and conduct sales entirely in cash, requiring elaborate and expensive security measures and putting them at a high risk of robbery.



It also makes accounting for state sales tax-collection purposes difficult. "You don't want just huge amounts of cash in these places," Holder told the audience at the University of Virginia. "They want to be able to use the banking system. And so we will be issuing some regulations I think very soon to deal with that issue." Holder's comments echoed remarks by his deputy, James Cole, in September during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill. Colorado this month became the first state to open retail outlets legally permitted to sell marijuana to adults for recreational purposes, in a system similar to what many states have long had in place for alcohol sales.



Washington state is slated to launch its own marijuana retail network later this year, and several other states, including California, Oregon and Alaska, are expected to consider legalizing recreational weed in 2014. The number of states approving marijuana for medical purposes has also been growing. California was the first in 1996, and has since been followed by about 20 other states and the District of Columbia. But the fledgling recreational pot markets in Colorado and Washington state have sent a new wave of cannabis proprietors clamoring to obtain loans and make deposits in banks and credit unions. The Justice Department announced in August that the administration would give new latitude to states experimenting with taxation and regulation of marijuana.




cont'



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/23/marijuana-bank_n_4656145.html

[liberal_at_heart]

1. how else are they going to keep track of who owes them taxes? I'm sorry, but

the way this whole thing is being handled is just so disappointing to me. It's big business all the way right from the very start. The little guy will never be let in and people will be prevented from growing their own and forced to buy retail. They're even trying to completely get rid of medical marijuana. They want all of it to be retail. It's all so discouraging.

[joshcryer]

4. ???

Seriously?

This is like arguing for prohibition because ending it didn't allow you to homebrew for years yet... at least now retail outlets (currently only medical marijuana dispenseries, who btw have a huge head start now) will be able to actually do business with banks, as opposed to having to put the money under their mattresses or something.

[LordGlenconner]

21. The perspective is lacking

20 years ago none of this would have been even remotely conceivable. We now have 2 states with full legalization and others moving in that direction. We have the federal govt. signaling, for really the first time, that they're not going to press the issue.

You could hand a $100 bill to some people and they would complain it's wrinkled. That seems to be the case here. The law doesn't satisfy every want or desire so therefore it's all a bag of turds.

SMH.....

[truedelphi]

5. Here in California, the Propositin 215 was deliberately written

Very clearly to state that people who need medicinal marijuana can grow their own.

Period.

And now we have to do referendums because of the Usual Shitty Local Power Grabbers, i.e. the city councils, the Board of Supervisors, etc who feel that it is their right to tell us that the law needs to be different. This flies in direct Violation of California Civil Code, which has long established that a piece of legislature resulting from a proposition cannot be altered at the local level.

It is all about greed, and greed and more greed.

Exactly as you are saying.

[Ikonoklast]

22. Local police forces are addicted to their expensive toys, purchased through confiscation.

They are the ones raising a stink with their respective local goverments, where will the money come from so they can play dress-up Army Guy and ride in a tank?


The real Drug War Addicts.

[truedelphi]

28. You are nailing it - those cops are indeed the

Real drug war addicts.

[Bluenorthwest]

12. Colorado, CA, Oregon, all of these laws very specifically allow one to grow one's own.

That's just the fact of the matter. Colorado's Medical Marijuana program is specifically continued, and those with Medical Cards pay no tax and thus pay less for medicine.

[truedelphi]

29. I find the situation in Colorado very exciting.

Of course on Day One here in Calif., I was also very excited.

It didn't take long for the usual suspects to move in and change everything. Now some counties here in Calif. outright ban growing outdoors.

And these style of bans would not at all occur, if everyone who is aware of marijuana's benefits and of how you can't erase the public's demand for the drug would get out there and protest the changes in law, by being at the local City Council meetings or being at the Board of Supervisors' meetings, etc.

But when laws were changing here locally, many who were growing didn't protest, as long as their class of "grows" were exempt. It is sad to realize how easily people are persuaded to stay away from protesting the various bans and restrictions. The slightest economic gain, and people throw others to the wolves.

[fbc]

2. Another MAJOR SHIFT eh? it's all about the follow through

One really can't trust anything this administration, and in particular Holder, says about marijuana. I'll believe it when these accounts aren't confiscated by the Feds within a year.

[truedelphi]

6. FBC, you have that one right.

And a belated welcome to DU.

[Oldenuff]

3. What's the difference...?

The banks already launder billions in drug money each year.Might as well handle some legal drug money too...you know,just to look credible and all.

[Sunlei]

7. what a PITA it must be to have a business forced to deal in cash only

[MichaelSoE]

8. Ah yes .... once again the too big to fail banks might me given a break

golly gee whiz ... we don't want to take the chronic off schedule 1. it's dangerous and we need to imprison anyone who imbibes. but since we have states thumbing their noses at us we might as well give the banks a wink, wink.

actually it is my opinion that it is just another step toward decriminalization but the fed doesn't want to do it too quickly as they still have an image to maintain. too many states are jumping on the band wagon and it's hard to put the toothpaste back into the tube.

[ProSense]

9. Is this good news?

[JoePhilly]

10. Can't be ... the Obama administration did it.

[ProSense]

11. Clearly,

that's not the case: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024381790

[JoePhilly]

14. Yea ... but ...

But Putin made Obama do it.

[Bluenorthwest]

13. Yes.

If it is carried out as stated it is very good news, needed by those with cannabis businesses. Cash business is a huge safety issue for employees and for owners.

[polichick]

18. Great news for bankers and tax collectors.

[ProSense]

19. Yeah,

"Great news for bankers and tax collectors."

...sure it it.

In the absence of guidance from federal enforcers, most financial institutions have been unwilling to provide even the most basic banking services, such as checking and savings accounts, to medical or adult-use marijuana businesses.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024381790

[polichick]

20. I'm pretty sure they'll appreciate the new customers.

[Aerows]

25. Yes

I would be extremely worried if I had to run a business on a cash-only basis. It leaves you wide open to theft.

[Coyotl]

15. K&R

[archiemo]

16. K&R

[polichick]

17. Oh, how impressive...

A "major shift" not so much.

[Erose999]

23. No need to raid the places if you've got a lock on their money, I guess. If I owned a cannabis

business I'd tell Holder to go fuck himself.

[RainDog]

24. k&r n/t

[bpj62]

26. DEA

Over the summer I had a conversation with DEA agent. The subject of Washington State and Colorado came up and even though a I do not smoke Marijuana I told him that I felt the states had the right to find new ways to create a tax base. His told me that the DEA has told banks and lending institutions that federal law supersedes state law and that they can and will seize and confiscate both property and monies used in the sale of Marijuana. So if a marijuana dealer deposits his money in the bank, the bank can be accused of money laundering and have their cash on hand seized/frozen. This agent is convinced that Marijuana has no medicinal purposes and he further stated that the Mexicans cartels would simply undercut the price of Marijuana. Seizure of assets is one of the biggest tools law enforcement has and as a prior poster stated legalizing Marijuana severely undercuts that source of funds in the states that legalize it.

[lame54]

27. So marijuana IS a gateway drug...

It leads to dealing with bankers