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Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

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Re: Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

#81

Post by eyelidlessness »

cm2187 wrote: post #68
AlbertCory wrote: post #61

In the first episode of Tulsa King (which is on a streaming service, so I haven't watched any more of it), Sylvester Stallone is a mobster who gets out of prison after a long term, and is surprised to see a marijuana dealership. He realizes that they must keep a lot of cash, because banks won't deal with them. So he sees his opportunity and becomes their "partner." If it's a legal business, banks should not discrimin…

There are also lots of references to being "raided by the feds" which I don't understand. Is it still a federal offense even though it is legal at the state level?

The concise “yes” is correct, but a more explanatory answer might be helpful. Cannabis is still a schedule 1 substance by federal law. Almost all federal jurisdiction in state matters is derived from the interstate commerce clause in the constitution. When the first states passed legalization measures, the DOJ issued a memo (Cole) basically saying they would not intervene in states with well defined rules for tracking cannabis sales to prevent product crossing state lines. Credit card processors and most banks are either not willing or not allowed to process electronic transactions for cannabis because they do tend to cross state lines.

Re: Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

#82

Post by lazide »

eternalban wrote: post #26
jjulius wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it inaccurate? Cannabis is legal in much of the country (at the state level) and the businesses are blocked from much of the banking system because it's federally illegal. Edit: OP, if you're going to completely change the last sentence of your post after people respond, which then changes your point, at least highlight that you've made a significant change.

As of now, you can definitely get your daily supply of Cannabis if you want. There are a lot of little businesses that legally sell it. So these federal laws are not preventing you from exercising your legal right to get high in e.g. NY state. I would like to get the pulse of hn on this: What do we think if e.g. the Coca-Cola Company got in the pot business? Is the fact that these Federal constraints are keeping big…

Those businesses are not legal, since there are active law enforcement agencies active that could arrest them on sight.

They are defacto legalized, because practically those agencies won’t. But that is not the same thing.

The Supreme Court ruled back in the Great Depression days that the feds can regulate local businesses, if the goods sold are similar to goods sold that could be sold in interstate commerce.

So the DEA is still a thing.

Re: Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

#84

Post by klyrs »

gamegoblin wrote: post #16

Prediction: Dems will make a move on federal legalization in the months before the 2024 presidential election, or at least make federal legalization a major election issue. A lot of right wing / libertarian adjacent people were hoping Trump would come out in favor of it as a 2020 election issue, to outflank Biden on at least one issue. It didn't happen, but I bet it would have made the election a bit closer -- it wou…

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/marijuana-banking-bill-excluded-...

Actually, they made this move just recently, not tied to an election. But Republicans blocked it in Senate.

Obama was elected on his promise of "hope" and "change" and he asked his voter base what to spend his time on. The top two issues were health care and cannabis. He noped cannabis.

Perhaps making this an election issue is actually the necessary ingredient to bring republicans on board.

Re: Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

#86

Post by kube-system »

trillic wrote: post #77
kube-system wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of those businesses that sell cannabis are in violation of the Controlled Substances Act. They are, quite plainly, operating businesses that are illegal under federal law. The reason you don't see too many DEA raids (anymore) is that the feds don't have any money to enforce it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohrabacher%E2%80%93Farr_amend...

The overton window has shifted. It is no longer popular for armies of feds to raid businesses acting entirely within state laws and only performing intrastate commerce. The President of the United States, head of Executive branch, directed with enforcement of Federal law has pardoned ALL federal marijuana convictions and doesn't plan to pursue more. It is effectively legal federally, no matter how much that makes you…

> It is effectively legal federally

It is not "effectively legal". You cannot do any of these while possessing and/or using marijuana:

* Pass federal employment drug tests

* ̶F̶l̶y̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶n̶e̶

* Buy a gun

etc.

Re: Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

#87

Post by trillic »

galleywest200 wrote: post #78
jliptzin wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes

While still federally illegal, they have not done these raids regularly for years. In 2015 a judge ordered the federal government to stop going after medical places in legal states [1]. If I recall correctly the Obama Admin ordered the DEA to stop busting shops in recreational legal states too. I am unsure if the GOP's recent tenure in the Whitehouse reversed these common sense ideas. [1] https://time.com/4080110/dea…

45 didn't roll that back he made a deal with the Dems to get some judges passed in exchange for not killing intrastate commerce of Cannabis [1]

https://hightimes.com/news/trump-makes-deal-protect-states-l...

Re: Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

#88

Post by Doubtme »

gamegoblin wrote: post #43
Doubtme wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cannabis banking came up on this 1.7 trillion dollar bill that just got passed. It wasn't included thanks to Republicans.

I think the correct strategic move would be to make it an issue in the months before the election, and try to force the R challenger to come out strongly against it. I would not expect any serious boat rocking right now due to where we are in the political cycle.

That is unfortunately not your fault. You see. There is no strategy.

So whenever good people try and come up with ideas about literally any subject. the republicans ie McConnell are ready to strike it down 100% of the time.

It doesn't matter that it has majority support. It doesn't matter if it helps save American lives. It does not matter what the logistics are or how much money is involved. It does not matter if it helps military veterans and minorities.

Every plan. Every thought. Every move. will be without fail. Denied. Denied. Denied.

That is their only play. and it will also be their downfall. much like a DDOS attack on a network. All we have to do is create a network stronger then the ones they have in play and they will cease to exist entirely. aka - voting. and with republicans saying don't vote - don't vote with mail in ballots - don't vote early.

They got absolutely destroyed pushing their own agenda. Its honestly amazing.

Re: Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

#89

Post by jjcon »

josephcsible wrote: post #40

The headline isn't true. Cannabis is illegal in all of America, since it's still on Schedule I at the federal level. While some states may have removed their own laws against it, that in itself doesn't make it legal there.

Not to nitpick but technically only thc is illegal federally and only in certain quantities- you can legally buy some cannabis products like cbd oil federally. In most states the rest is effectively legal even if the federal government says no but technically you are correct there.

Re: Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

#90

Post by AdrianB1 »

cm2187 wrote: post #68
AlbertCory wrote: post #61

In the first episode of Tulsa King (which is on a streaming service, so I haven't watched any more of it), Sylvester Stallone is a mobster who gets out of prison after a long term, and is surprised to see a marijuana dealership. He realizes that they must keep a lot of cash, because banks won't deal with them. So he sees his opportunity and becomes their "partner." If it's a legal business, banks should not discrimin…

There are also lots of references to being "raided by the feds" which I don't understand. Is it still a federal offense even though it is legal at the state level?

It is still a federal offence and even if there are no raids, there are indirect fights, including civil asset forfeiture or even raiding the armored transports that carry the cash from the sales. Feds are harassing the state-legal merchants by targeting the money movement at any level.
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