An employee weighs portions of retail marijuana to be packaged and sold at a Cannabis Center in Denver, Tuesday Dec. 31, 2013. (Credit: AP/Brennan Linsley)
Last week, Colorado became the first place in the world to legally sell regulated and taxed marijuana for adult recreational use. Despite the winter weather, long lines and heavy demand led some stores to jack up their prices or even sell out of product.The early success has elevated expectations for a new “green” economy, with a projected market value of $10.2 billion by 2018, according to Arcview Market Research.But one crucial detail threatens to hold the industry back.Because the federal government still classifies pot as a dangerous drug, corner cannabis stores and cultivators cannot secure access to traditional banking services, and do a shocking amount of their business in cash. Banks are reluctant to work with pot-related businesses, out of fear that the government will prosecute them for laundering illegally obtained money. This heightens the potential for crime at pot shops, imposes heavy costs on businesses seeking legitimacy, and could cripple the industry just as it gets started.
didn't they know before hand that they would be cutting into street sales and first there would probably be a pricing war, than a more violent war against those legal businesses? criminals have no rules except don't get caught, stores have all sorts of laws and regulations not hard to see who has the advantage.
“I run a state-approved business, and I don’t have the ability to walk into a bank and open a bank account,” business owner Alex Cooley told Salon. Cooley’s Solstice Grown is the first legally permitted cannabis production facility in Washington state, and he sells to multiple distributors.Cooley’s story is familiar in the industry, where everyone is a phone call away from losing access to banks. Solstice had an account with Boeing Employees Credit Union for several years, under what Cooley described as a “don’t ask, don’t tell” arrangement.But when the credit union read about Cooley’s work to become a permitted cultivator, and his advocacy for the state initiative that legalized cannabis for adult use, it canceled his account. “We operated, by their own description, ‘an exemplary account,’” Cooley said. “It’s frustrating, because they were saying to us, ‘we found out about you because you’re trying to be legitimate. So now we’re going to close your bank account.’”
already some are trying to gouge patrons, stupidity permeating the legal side only helps the black market side. more security means higher prices and if extra police are involved higher taxes.
if they stop trying to compete with the lawless they may stand a chance. alchohol lega;lization did not stop speakeasy and later red light clubs bootleg and after hour houses. the sucess of those establishments will more than liely be duplicated, if they fight back still a losing effort, can't compete with lower prices 24/7 access and no ID'S.
