the street again. We got another letter, and yes, I kept that one, too. I was thinking that if this kept up, I might be able to wallpaper a restroom in one of our dispensaries someday.It seemed only fitting, I thought, as I slipped the letter in with the others.
We didnât give up. I mean, we assumedâas any businessperson wouldâthat the law was on our side. Sooner or later, we would prevail. Our businesses were licensed by the state! We paid taxes! How could we be denied access to the banking system? It was absurd.
But that absurdity was boundless. We kept moving on, thinking that eventually we would hit upon a bank that had sorted out this issue internally and would welcome our business. But that was not to be. At one point, we were kicked out of three banks in five weeks.
By then, it was quite clear that every legal cannabis company in the state and the nation was in the same position.
Early in 2014, the White House announced that it supported changing federal bank guidelines to allow licensed cannabis providers access to banks. I and my fellow entrepreneurs were hopeful for about fifteen minutes, until we realized that it would take an act of Congress to get the banks to change. At this writing, we are still locked out.
What does that mean for us?
Well, if youâd like to see what our lives are like sometime, all you have to do is try to pay your monthly bills totally in cash. This was no doubt possible in simpler times, but itâs virtually impossible today. Yes, you can probably drive to an office locally to pay your cable TV, gas, or electric bills in cash. And some people may be able to pay their rent or mortgages in person, but most of us need to transmit those funds online or at least through the postal service. You could buy money orders each time, but that will quickly become tedious. So much of your time will be spent in long lines at the post office that you will start to wonder if youâre wasting your time. (Hint: You are.)
Now imagine having to pay huge bills in cashâamounts in the tens of thousands. Welcome to my world.
Itâs not easy running a million-dollar company in an all-cash position, but it can be done. For one thing, our firm stopped sharingour information with banks. Theyâre not your friends these days, anyway. First thing we did was form a holding company, through which we can flow enough cash to write checks to pay taxes and the other bills that truly require having a bank account.
When it comes time to pay our state taxes, we literally walk cash into the Colorado Department of Revenue office, which is next door to the gold-domed Colorado State Capitol Building, and hand over the Benjamins with our tax forms. Our federal taxes must be remitted electronicallyâno cash or checks accepted. Paying those requires the same kind of ingenuity we use to pay any large bill from a vendor or contractor.
In the eyes of the federal government, we are laundering money every time we do this. But as yet no law enforcement agency has cracked down on us. In his 2014 announcement, President Obama instructed the Justice Department to leave cannabis entrepreneurs alone if they were âin clear and unambiguous compliance with state marijuana law.â But that instruction was not terribly clear, either, and certainly did not carry the full weight of law behind it.
Itâs almost as if weâre trapped in bureaucratic limbo: Until Congress sprouts the balls to deal with the issue, everyone on the federal level is content to look the other way. Meaningful legislation will come inevitably, but that will mean breaking it to the American people that Congress is finally saying okay to marijuana. Our representatives in DC know that once they open a door, they wonât be able to close it. If itâs okay to deposit legal marijuana money in federal banks, then why is marijuana still illegal on the federal level?
You see? Itâs a slippery slope.
So: Where does
We didnât give up. I mean, we assumedâas any businessperson wouldâthat the law was on our side. Sooner or later, we would prevail. Our businesses were licensed by the state! We paid taxes! How could we be denied access to the banking system? It was absurd.
But that absurdity was boundless. We kept moving on, thinking that eventually we would hit upon a bank that had sorted out this issue internally and would welcome our business. But that was not to be. At one point, we were kicked out of three banks in five weeks.
By then, it was quite clear that every legal cannabis company in the state and the nation was in the same position.
Early in 2014, the White House announced that it supported changing federal bank guidelines to allow licensed cannabis providers access to banks. I and my fellow entrepreneurs were hopeful for about fifteen minutes, until we realized that it would take an act of Congress to get the banks to change. At this writing, we are still locked out.
What does that mean for us?
Well, if youâd like to see what our lives are like sometime, all you have to do is try to pay your monthly bills totally in cash. This was no doubt possible in simpler times, but itâs virtually impossible today. Yes, you can probably drive to an office locally to pay your cable TV, gas, or electric bills in cash. And some people may be able to pay their rent or mortgages in person, but most of us need to transmit those funds online or at least through the postal service. You could buy money orders each time, but that will quickly become tedious. So much of your time will be spent in long lines at the post office that you will start to wonder if youâre wasting your time. (Hint: You are.)
Now imagine having to pay huge bills in cashâamounts in the tens of thousands. Welcome to my world.
Itâs not easy running a million-dollar company in an all-cash position, but it can be done. For one thing, our firm stopped sharingour information with banks. Theyâre not your friends these days, anyway. First thing we did was form a holding company, through which we can flow enough cash to write checks to pay taxes and the other bills that truly require having a bank account.
When it comes time to pay our state taxes, we literally walk cash into the Colorado Department of Revenue office, which is next door to the gold-domed Colorado State Capitol Building, and hand over the Benjamins with our tax forms. Our federal taxes must be remitted electronicallyâno cash or checks accepted. Paying those requires the same kind of ingenuity we use to pay any large bill from a vendor or contractor.
In the eyes of the federal government, we are laundering money every time we do this. But as yet no law enforcement agency has cracked down on us. In his 2014 announcement, President Obama instructed the Justice Department to leave cannabis entrepreneurs alone if they were âin clear and unambiguous compliance with state marijuana law.â But that instruction was not terribly clear, either, and certainly did not carry the full weight of law behind it.
Itâs almost as if weâre trapped in bureaucratic limbo: Until Congress sprouts the balls to deal with the issue, everyone on the federal level is content to look the other way. Meaningful legislation will come inevitably, but that will mean breaking it to the American people that Congress is finally saying okay to marijuana. Our representatives in DC know that once they open a door, they wonât be able to close it. If itâs okay to deposit legal marijuana money in federal banks, then why is marijuana still illegal on the federal level?
You see? Itâs a slippery slope.
So: Where does
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