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Cannabis banking reform deposited another decisive victory in the U.S. House on Monday evening, when bipartisanship took over the floor of the lower chamber.
Cruising to passage by a 321-101 vote, the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which aims to bring safe harbor to depository institutions providing financial services to state-legal cannabis businesses, is the first major piece of cannabis legislation to be approved by this Congress. Democrats voted 215-0 in favor of the bill, while Republicans voted 106-101 in favor.
In the last Congress, the lower chamber overwhelmingly passed a standalone version of SAFE Banking in 2019, and then House members passed the measure two more times as part of federal coronavirus relief bills in 2020. But the legislation stalled, in part because former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., never acted on calendaring it for floor debate in the upper chamber.
RELATED: Senate Follows Suit in Reintroducing SAFE Banking Act
House lawmakers debated the current legislation, House Bill 1996, on the floor Monday afternoon, just hours before the official vote. In his opening remarks as the chief author of the bill, Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., said passing the measure is a matter of public safety, accountability and respecting states’ rights.
Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have either implemented or passed adult-use cannabis measures, while the majority of states have medical cannabis programs that depend on related businesses to remain fully functionable.
“Businesses in these states are forced to deal in cash,” Perlmutter said. “And the businesses, their employees and ancillary businesses can’t access the banking system. The fact is, people in states and localities across the country are voting to approve some level of cannabis use, and we need these cannabis businesses and employees to have access to checking accounts, payroll accounts, lines of credit, credit cards and more.
“This will improve transparency and accountability and help law enforcement root out illegal transactions to prevent tax evasion, money laundering and other white-collar crime. But, most importantly, this will reduce the risk of violent crime in our communities. These businesses and their employees become targets for crime, robbery, assault and more by dealing in all cash. And this puts the employees and store owners at risk.”
Last year in Oregon, a string of robberies and burglaries of cannabis businesses culminated in a murder, when Michael Arthur, a dispensary employee in Portland, was shot to death during a robbery on Dec. 14, according to Willamette Week. In 2020, Portland-area cannabis shops reported more than half a million dollars stolen, according to the weekly newspaper.
Helping motor more than $17.5 billion of legal cannabis sales in the U.S. in 2020, there were 515 banks and 169 credit unions providing services to cannabis-related businesses at the end of last year, according to Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) quarterly cannabis banking update. But not all cannabis-related businesses have access to those financial institutions, and those financial institutions don’t have guaranteed safe harbor for taking on clients who operate in a sector that is not federally legal without federal retribution.
RELATED: SAFE Banking Act Refiled on Heels of $17.5 Billion in U.S. Cannabis Sales in 2020
Section 3 of the SAFE Banking Act is not only important to cannabis businesses, but also to everyone who might do business with a cannabis-related company, Perlmutter said. That section would protect ancillary businesses, like real estate owners, accountants, electricians and vendors, by clarifying the proceeds from legitimate cannabis businesses are not unlawful under federal laws, he said.
“This proceeds section is the key provision allowing all cannabis-related businesses and their service providers, and landlords, to access the banking system without fear of reprisal,” Perlmutter said.
While Perlmutter has led the charge for cannabis banking reform for eight years, his fellow SAFE Banking Act sponsors in this Congress include Reps. Nydia M. Velázquez, D-N.Y., Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, and Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, whose legislation attracted the support of more than 170 co-sponsors when floor debate took place on April 19.
Stivers said he’s sponsoring the bill because it promotes common sense and safety, but also because it safeguards the assets of companies that merely provide products and services to cannabis businesses.
“I’m an unlikely person to support this bill, because I’m opposed to recreational marijuana,” he said. “But I came to this because a company that’s just outside my district [in the Columbus area] that sells nutrients now finds themselves in the situation where 25 percent of their profits come from selling to legal marijuana businesses, and they’re being threatened—a Fortune 500 company—with losing their bank accounts. We can’t let that happen.”
Piggybacking on those comments, Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, said, “Regardless of where you stand on the legality of cannabis, I think we can all agree it shouldn’t be that hard to sell a bag of dirt.”
But Joyce’s comments were more geared toward states’ rights.
“The vast majority of states, including my own, have enacted laws that to varying degrees permit their residents to use cannabis,” he said. “However, the federal government has not only infringed on the inherit right of these states to implement those laws, but also stifled medical research, diverted law enforcement resources needed elsewhere and hindered legitimate businesses—businesses that provide vital services to cancer patients, veterans and those seeking opioid alternatives for pain management.”
Because of the federal interference in the space, cannabis companies are not afforded the same access to financial services as every other state-legal business in the U.S., Joyce said.
While SAFE Banking picked up 15 additional Republican votes compared to its previous standalone vote in 2019, the party remained split. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., was the main voice in opposition to the legislation during floor debate on Monday. He focused much of his dissent on the fact that cannabis remains illegal at the federal level.
“By enacting this legislation, we’re effectively kneecapping law enforcement and legalizing money laundering. These are concerns that I have that still remain,” he said. “By effectively legalizing money laundering, we’re inserting a new level of risk into our financial system. We’re preventing our legal entities from doing their jobs. We’re encouraging bad actors and placing our financial institutions at risk. Rather than dealing with the issues of cannabis and the question of its federal legalization, we’re dealing with a component of the challenge, which is the banking of it.”
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., rebutted and said he believes cash-only enterprises present an invitation for money laundering without SAFE Banking in place. With the cannabis industry approaching $20 billion of revenue a year, those enterprises also remain sitting ducks for violent crimes, he said.
Stivers said SAFE Banking encourages safety because money that’s in a bank account can be frozen and can be tracked. The bill also expands suspicious activity reports (SARs)—a compliance step financial institutions servicing cannabis-related businesses must take to help ensure they’re performing their due diligence on clients to help the FinCEN prevent money laundering, he said.
“The final thing is, this bill includes provisions to stop Operation Choke Point that Republicans couldn’t even get passed when we had the presidency, the Senate and the House,” Stivers said. “And we got that negotiated into this bill. It helps in a big way to make sure that there’s not an Operation Choke Point in the future, so nobody can choke off legal businesses from their bank accounts and from access to the payment system. That’s a big deal.”
Operation Choke Point was a 2013 initiative where the U.S. Department of Justice targeted banks that service a broad range of what it considered questionable financial ventures, including online payday lenders, firearm dealers and other companies believed to be at high risk for fraud and money laundering, according to the Wall Street Journal. The operation ended in 2017, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation settled multiple lawsuits by promising to Congress additional training for its examiners.
Perlmutter said SAFE Banking attracted about 50 endorsements from various national associations, such as the American Bankers Association and the National Association of State Treasurers, among other bankers, credit unions, insurance agencies, cannabis industry stakeholders, real estate owners and law enforcement agencies, not to mention 21 governors.
“They know this is a public safety matter,” he said. “We really need to address it. We have been working on it for some time. We need to get this to the Senate. They need to take whatever tack they want to take, but we’ve got to make our communities safer, these businesses safer.”
Cannabis banking reform deposited another decisive victory in the U.S. House on Monday evening, when bipartisanship took over the floor of the lower chamber.
Cruising to passage by a 321-101 vote, the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which aims to bring safe harbor to depository institutions providing financial services to state-legal cannabis businesses, is the first major piece of cannabis legislation to be approved by this Congress. Democrats voted 215-0 in favor of the bill, while Republicans voted 106-101 in favor.
In the last Congress, the lower chamber overwhelmingly passed a standalone version of SAFE Banking in 2019, and then House members passed the measure two more times as part of federal coronavirus relief bills in 2020. But the legislation stalled, in part because former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., never acted on calendaring it for floor debate in the upper chamber.
RELATED: Senate Follows Suit in Reintroducing SAFE Banking Act
House lawmakers debated the current legislation, House Bill 1996, on the floor Monday afternoon, just hours before the official vote. In his opening remarks as the chief author of the bill, Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., said passing the measure is a matter of public safety, accountability and respecting states’ rights.
Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have either implemented or passed adult-use cannabis measures, while the majority of states have medical cannabis programs that depend on related businesses to remain fully functionable.
“Businesses in these states are forced to deal in cash,” Perlmutter said. “And the businesses, their employees and ancillary businesses can’t access the banking system. The fact is, people in states and localities across the country are voting to approve some level of cannabis use, and we need these cannabis businesses and employees to have access to checking accounts, payroll accounts, lines of credit, credit cards and more.
“This will improve transparency and accountability and help law enforcement root out illegal transactions to prevent tax evasion, money laundering and other white-collar crime. But, most importantly, this will reduce the risk of violent crime in our communities. These businesses and their employees become targets for crime, robbery, assault and more by dealing in all cash. And this puts the employees and store owners at risk.”
Last year in Oregon, a string of robberies and burglaries of cannabis businesses culminated in a murder, when Michael Arthur, a dispensary employee in Portland, was shot to death during a robbery on Dec. 14, according to Willamette Week. In 2020, Portland-area cannabis shops reported more than half a million dollars stolen, according to the weekly newspaper.
Helping motor more than $17.5 billion of legal cannabis sales in the U.S. in 2020, there were 515 banks and 169 credit unions providing services to cannabis-related businesses at the end of last year, according to Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) quarterly cannabis banking update. But not all cannabis-related businesses have access to those financial institutions, and those financial institutions don’t have guaranteed safe harbor for taking on clients who operate in a sector that is not federally legal without federal retribution.
RELATED: SAFE Banking Act Refiled on Heels of $17.5 Billion in U.S. Cannabis Sales in 2020
Section 3 of the SAFE Banking Act is not only important to cannabis businesses, but also to everyone who might do business with a cannabis-related company, Perlmutter said. That section would protect ancillary businesses, like real estate owners, accountants, electricians and vendors, by clarifying the proceeds from legitimate cannabis businesses are not unlawful under federal laws, he said.
“This proceeds section is the key provision allowing all cannabis-related businesses and their service providers, and landlords, to access the banking system without fear of reprisal,” Perlmutter said.
While Perlmutter has led the charge for cannabis banking reform for eight years, his fellow SAFE Banking Act sponsors in this Congress include Reps. Nydia M. Velázquez, D-N.Y., Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, and Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, whose legislation attracted the support of more than 170 co-sponsors when floor debate took place on April 19.
Stivers said he’s sponsoring the bill because it promotes common sense and safety, but also because it safeguards the assets of companies that merely provide products and services to cannabis businesses.
“I’m an unlikely person to support this bill, because I’m opposed to recreational marijuana,” he said. “But I came to this because a company that’s just outside my district [in the Columbus area] that sells nutrients now finds themselves in the situation where 25 percent of their profits come from selling to legal marijuana businesses, and they’re being threatened—a Fortune 500 company—with losing their bank accounts. We can’t let that happen.”
Piggybacking on those comments, Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, said, “Regardless of where you stand on the legality of cannabis, I think we can all agree it shouldn’t be that hard to sell a bag of dirt.”
But Joyce’s comments were more geared toward states’ rights.
“The vast majority of states, including my own, have enacted laws that to varying degrees permit their residents to use cannabis,” he said. “However, the federal government has not only infringed on the inherit right of these states to implement those laws, but also stifled medical research, diverted law enforcement resources needed elsewhere and hindered legitimate businesses—businesses that provide vital services to cancer patients, veterans and those seeking opioid alternatives for pain management.”
Because of the federal interference in the space, cannabis companies are not afforded the same access to financial services as every other state-legal business in the U.S., Joyce said.
While SAFE Banking picked up 15 additional Republican votes compared to its previous standalone vote in 2019, the party remained split. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., was the main voice in opposition to the legislation during floor debate on Monday. He focused much of his dissent on the fact that cannabis remains illegal at the federal level.
“By enacting this legislation, we’re effectively kneecapping law enforcement and legalizing money laundering. These are concerns that I have that still remain,” he said. “By effectively legalizing money laundering, we’re inserting a new level of risk into our financial system. We’re preventing our legal entities from doing their jobs. We’re encouraging bad actors and placing our financial institutions at risk. Rather than dealing with the issues of cannabis and the question of its federal legalization, we’re dealing with a component of the challenge, which is the banking of it.”
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., rebutted and said he believes cash-only enterprises present an invitation for money laundering without SAFE Banking in place. With the cannabis industry approaching $20 billion of revenue a year, those enterprises also remain sitting ducks for violent crimes, he said.
Stivers said SAFE Banking encourages safety because money that’s in a bank account can be frozen and can be tracked. The bill also expands suspicious activity reports (SARs)—a compliance step financial institutions servicing cannabis-related businesses must take to help ensure they’re performing their due diligence on clients to help the FinCEN prevent money laundering, he said.
“The final thing is, this bill includes provisions to stop Operation Choke Point that Republicans couldn’t even get passed when we had the presidency, the Senate and the House,” Stivers said. “And we got that negotiated into this bill. It helps in a big way to make sure that there’s not an Operation Choke Point in the future, so nobody can choke off legal businesses from their bank accounts and from access to the payment system. That’s a big deal.”
Operation Choke Point was a 2013 initiative where the U.S. Department of Justice targeted banks that service a broad range of what it considered questionable financial ventures, including online payday lenders, firearm dealers and other companies believed to be at high risk for fraud and money laundering, according to the Wall Street Journal. The operation ended in 2017, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation settled multiple lawsuits by promising to Congress additional training for its examiners.
Perlmutter said SAFE Banking attracted about 50 endorsements from various national associations, such as the American Bankers Association and the National Association of State Treasurers, among other bankers, credit unions, insurance agencies, cannabis industry stakeholders, real estate owners and law enforcement agencies, not to mention 21 governors.
“They know this is a public safety matter,” he said. “We really need to address it. We have been working on it for some time. We need to get this to the Senate. They need to take whatever tack they want to take, but we’ve got to make our communities safer, these businesses safer.”
Cannabis banking reform deposited another decisive victory in the U.S. House on Monday evening, when bipartisanship took over the floor of the lower chamber.
Cruising to passage by a 321-101 vote, the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which aims to bring safe harbor to depository institutions providing financial services to state-legal cannabis businesses, is the first major piece of cannabis legislation to be approved by this Congress. Democrats voted 215-0 in favor of the bill, while Republicans voted 106-101 in favor.
In the last Congress, the lower chamber overwhelmingly passed a standalone version of SAFE Banking in 2019, and then House members passed the measure two more times as part of federal coronavirus relief bills in 2020. But the legislation stalled, in part because former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., never acted on calendaring it for floor debate in the upper chamber.
RELATED: Senate Follows Suit in Reintroducing SAFE Banking Act
House lawmakers debated the current legislation, House Bill 1996, on the floor Monday afternoon, just hours before the official vote. In his opening remarks as the chief author of the bill, Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., said passing the measure is a matter of public safety, accountability and respecting states’ rights.
Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have either implemented or passed adult-use cannabis measures, while the majority of states have medical cannabis programs that depend on related businesses to remain fully functionable.
“Businesses in these states are forced to deal in cash,” Perlmutter said. “And the businesses, their employees and ancillary businesses can’t access the banking system. The fact is, people in states and localities across the country are voting to approve some level of cannabis use, and we need these cannabis businesses and employees to have access to checking accounts, payroll accounts, lines of credit, credit cards and more.
“This will improve transparency and accountability and help law enforcement root out illegal transactions to prevent tax evasion, money laundering and other white-collar crime. But, most importantly, this will reduce the risk of violent crime in our communities. These businesses and their employees become targets for crime, robbery, assault and more by dealing in all cash. And this puts the employees and store owners at risk.”
Last year in Oregon, a string of robberies and burglaries of cannabis businesses culminated in a murder, when Michael Arthur, a dispensary employee in Portland, was shot to death during a robbery on Dec. 14, according to Willamette Week. In 2020, Portland-area cannabis shops reported more than half a million dollars stolen, according to the weekly newspaper.
Helping motor more than $17.5 billion of legal cannabis sales in the U.S. in 2020, there were 515 banks and 169 credit unions providing services to cannabis-related businesses at the end of last year, according to Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) quarterly cannabis banking update. But not all cannabis-related businesses have access to those financial institutions, and those financial institutions don’t have guaranteed safe harbor for taking on clients who operate in a sector that is not federally legal without federal retribution.
RELATED: SAFE Banking Act Refiled on Heels of $17.5 Billion in U.S. Cannabis Sales in 2020
Section 3 of the SAFE Banking Act is not only important to cannabis businesses, but also to everyone who might do business with a cannabis-related company, Perlmutter said. That section would protect ancillary businesses, like real estate owners, accountants, electricians and vendors, by clarifying the proceeds from legitimate cannabis businesses are not unlawful under federal laws, he said.
“This proceeds section is the key provision allowing all cannabis-related businesses and their service providers, and landlords, to access the banking system without fear of reprisal,” Perlmutter said.
While Perlmutter has led the charge for cannabis banking reform for eight years, his fellow SAFE Banking Act sponsors in this Congress include Reps. Nydia M. Velázquez, D-N.Y., Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, and Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, whose legislation attracted the support of more than 170 co-sponsors when floor debate took place on April 19.
Stivers said he’s sponsoring the bill because it promotes common sense and safety, but also because it safeguards the assets of companies that merely provide products and services to cannabis businesses.
“I’m an unlikely person to support this bill, because I’m opposed to recreational marijuana,” he said. “But I came to this because a company that’s just outside my district [in the Columbus area] that sells nutrients now finds themselves in the situation where 25 percent of their profits come from selling to legal marijuana businesses, and they’re being threatened—a Fortune 500 company—with losing their bank accounts. We can’t let that happen.”
Piggybacking on those comments, Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, said, “Regardless of where you stand on the legality of cannabis, I think we can all agree it shouldn’t be that hard to sell a bag of dirt.”
But Joyce’s comments were more geared toward states’ rights.
“The vast majority of states, including my own, have enacted laws that to varying degrees permit their residents to use cannabis,” he said. “However, the federal government has not only infringed on the inherit right of these states to implement those laws, but also stifled medical research, diverted law enforcement resources needed elsewhere and hindered legitimate businesses—businesses that provide vital services to cancer patients, veterans and those seeking opioid alternatives for pain management.”
Because of the federal interference in the space, cannabis companies are not afforded the same access to financial services as every other state-legal business in the U.S., Joyce said.
While SAFE Banking picked up 15 additional Republican votes compared to its previous standalone vote in 2019, the party remained split. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., was the main voice in opposition to the legislation during floor debate on Monday. He focused much of his dissent on the fact that cannabis remains illegal at the federal level.
“By enacting this legislation, we’re effectively kneecapping law enforcement and legalizing money laundering. These are concerns that I have that still remain,” he said. “By effectively legalizing money laundering, we’re inserting a new level of risk into our financial system. We’re preventing our legal entities from doing their jobs. We’re encouraging bad actors and placing our financial institutions at risk. Rather than dealing with the issues of cannabis and the question of its federal legalization, we’re dealing with a component of the challenge, which is the banking of it.”
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., rebutted and said he believes cash-only enterprises present an invitation for money laundering without SAFE Banking in place. With the cannabis industry approaching $20 billion of revenue a year, those enterprises also remain sitting ducks for violent crimes, he said.
Stivers said SAFE Banking encourages safety because money that’s in a bank account can be frozen and can be tracked. The bill also expands suspicious activity reports (SARs)—a compliance step financial institutions servicing cannabis-related businesses must take to help ensure they’re performing their due diligence on clients to help the FinCEN prevent money laundering, he said.
“The final thing is, this bill includes provisions to stop Operation Choke Point that Republicans couldn’t even get passed when we had the presidency, the Senate and the House,” Stivers said. “And we got that negotiated into this bill. It helps in a big way to make sure that there’s not an Operation Choke Point in the future, so nobody can choke off legal businesses from their bank accounts and from access to the payment system. That’s a big deal.”
Operation Choke Point was a 2013 initiative where the U.S. Department of Justice targeted banks that service a broad range of what it considered questionable financial ventures, including online payday lenders, firearm dealers and other companies believed to be at high risk for fraud and money laundering, according to the Wall Street Journal. The operation ended in 2017, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation settled multiple lawsuits by promising to Congress additional training for its examiners.
Perlmutter said SAFE Banking attracted about 50 endorsements from various national associations, such as the American Bankers Association and the National Association of State Treasurers, among other bankers, credit unions, insurance agencies, cannabis industry stakeholders, real estate owners and law enforcement agencies, not to mention 21 governors.
“They know this is a public safety matter,” he said. “We really need to address it. We have been working on it for some time. We need to get this to the Senate. They need to take whatever tack they want to take, but we’ve got to make our communities safer, these businesses safer.”
Cannabis banking reform deposited another decisive victory in the U.S. House on Monday evening, when bipartisanship took over the floor of the lower chamber.
Cruising to passage by a 321-101 vote, the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which aims to bring safe harbor to depository institutions providing financial services to state-legal cannabis businesses, is the first major piece of cannabis legislation to be approved by this Congress. Democrats voted 215-0 in favor of the bill, while Republicans voted 106-101 in favor.
In the last Congress, the lower chamber overwhelmingly passed a standalone version of SAFE Banking in 2019, and then House members passed the measure two more times as part of federal coronavirus relief bills in 2020. But the legislation stalled, in part because former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., never acted on calendaring it for floor debate in the upper chamber.
RELATED: Senate Follows Suit in Reintroducing SAFE Banking Act
House lawmakers debated the current legislation, House Bill 1996, on the floor Monday afternoon, just hours before the official vote. In his opening remarks as the chief author of the bill, Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., said passing the measure is a matter of public safety, accountability and respecting states’ rights.
Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have either implemented or passed adult-use cannabis measures, while the majority of states have medical cannabis programs that depend on related businesses to remain fully functionable.
“Businesses in these states are forced to deal in cash,” Perlmutter said. “And the businesses, their employees and ancillary businesses can’t access the banking system. The fact is, people in states and localities across the country are voting to approve some level of cannabis use, and we need these cannabis businesses and employees to have access to checking accounts, payroll accounts, lines of credit, credit cards and more.
“This will improve transparency and accountability and help law enforcement root out illegal transactions to prevent tax evasion, money laundering and other white-collar crime. But, most importantly, this will reduce the risk of violent crime in our communities. These businesses and their employees become targets for crime, robbery, assault and more by dealing in all cash. And this puts the employees and store owners at risk.”
Last year in Oregon, a string of robberies and burglaries of cannabis businesses culminated in a murder, when Michael Arthur, a dispensary employee in Portland, was shot to death during a robbery on Dec. 14, according to Willamette Week. In 2020, Portland-area cannabis shops reported more than half a million dollars stolen, according to the weekly newspaper.
Helping motor more than $17.5 billion of legal cannabis sales in the U.S. in 2020, there were 515 banks and 169 credit unions providing services to cannabis-related businesses at the end of last year, according to Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) quarterly cannabis banking update. But not all cannabis-related businesses have access to those financial institutions, and those financial institutions don’t have guaranteed safe harbor for taking on clients who operate in a sector that is not federally legal without federal retribution.
RELATED: SAFE Banking Act Refiled on Heels of $17.5 Billion in U.S. Cannabis Sales in 2020
Section 3 of the SAFE Banking Act is not only important to cannabis businesses, but also to everyone who might do business with a cannabis-related company, Perlmutter said. That section would protect ancillary businesses, like real estate owners, accountants, electricians and vendors, by clarifying the proceeds from legitimate cannabis businesses are not unlawful under federal laws, he said.
“This proceeds section is the key provision allowing all cannabis-related businesses and their service providers, and landlords, to access the banking system without fear of reprisal,” Perlmutter said.
While Perlmutter has led the charge for cannabis banking reform for eight years, his fellow SAFE Banking Act sponsors in this Congress include Reps. Nydia M. Velázquez, D-N.Y., Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, and Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, whose legislation attracted the support of more than 170 co-sponsors when floor debate took place on April 19.
Stivers said he’s sponsoring the bill because it promotes common sense and safety, but also because it safeguards the assets of companies that merely provide products and services to cannabis businesses.
“I’m an unlikely person to support this bill, because I’m opposed to recreational marijuana,” he said. “But I came to this because a company that’s just outside my district [in the Columbus area] that sells nutrients now finds themselves in the situation where 25 percent of their profits come from selling to legal marijuana businesses, and they’re being threatened—a Fortune 500 company—with losing their bank accounts. We can’t let that happen.”
Piggybacking on those comments, Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, said, “Regardless of where you stand on the legality of cannabis, I think we can all agree it shouldn’t be that hard to sell a bag of dirt.”
But Joyce’s comments were more geared toward states’ rights.
“The vast majority of states, including my own, have enacted laws that to varying degrees permit their residents to use cannabis,” he said. “However, the federal government has not only infringed on the inherit right of these states to implement those laws, but also stifled medical research, diverted law enforcement resources needed elsewhere and hindered legitimate businesses—businesses that provide vital services to cancer patients, veterans and those seeking opioid alternatives for pain management.”
Because of the federal interference in the space, cannabis companies are not afforded the same access to financial services as every other state-legal business in the U.S., Joyce said.
While SAFE Banking picked up 15 additional Republican votes compared to its previous standalone vote in 2019, the party remained split. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., was the main voice in opposition to the legislation during floor debate on Monday. He focused much of his dissent on the fact that cannabis remains illegal at the federal level.
“By enacting this legislation, we’re effectively kneecapping law enforcement and legalizing money laundering. These are concerns that I have that still remain,” he said. “By effectively legalizing money laundering, we’re inserting a new level of risk into our financial system. We’re preventing our legal entities from doing their jobs. We’re encouraging bad actors and placing our financial institutions at risk. Rather than dealing with the issues of cannabis and the question of its federal legalization, we’re dealing with a component of the challenge, which is the banking of it.”
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., rebutted and said he believes cash-only enterprises present an invitation for money laundering without SAFE Banking in place. With the cannabis industry approaching $20 billion of revenue a year, those enterprises also remain sitting ducks for violent crimes, he said.
Stivers said SAFE Banking encourages safety because money that’s in a bank account can be frozen and can be tracked. The bill also expands suspicious activity reports (SARs)—a compliance step financial institutions servicing cannabis-related businesses must take to help ensure they’re performing their due diligence on clients to help the FinCEN prevent money laundering, he said.
“The final thing is, this bill includes provisions to stop Operation Choke Point that Republicans couldn’t even get passed when we had the presidency, the Senate and the House,” Stivers said. “And we got that negotiated into this bill. It helps in a big way to make sure that there’s not an Operation Choke Point in the future, so nobody can choke off legal businesses from their bank accounts and from access to the payment system. That’s a big deal.”
Operation Choke Point was a 2013 initiative where the U.S. Department of Justice targeted banks that service a broad range of what it considered questionable financial ventures, including online payday lenders, firearm dealers and other companies believed to be at high risk for fraud and money laundering, according to the Wall Street Journal. The operation ended in 2017, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation settled multiple lawsuits by promising to Congress additional training for its examiners.
Perlmutter said SAFE Banking attracted about 50 endorsements from various national associations, such as the American Bankers Association and the National Association of State Treasurers, among other bankers, credit unions, insurance agencies, cannabis industry stakeholders, real estate owners and law enforcement agencies, not to mention 21 governors.
“They know this is a public safety matter,” he said. “We really need to address it. We have been working on it for some time. We need to get this to the Senate. They need to take whatever tack they want to take, but we’ve got to make our communities safer, these businesses safer.”
Cannabis banking reform deposited another decisive victory in the U.S. House on Monday evening, when bipartisanship took over the floor of the lower chamber.
Cruising to passage by a 321-101 vote, the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which aims to bring safe harbor to depository institutions providing financial services to state-legal cannabis businesses, is the first major piece of cannabis legislation to be approved by this Congress. Democrats voted 215-0 in favor of the bill, while Republicans voted 106-101 in favor.
In the last Congress, the lower chamber overwhelmingly passed a standalone version of SAFE Banking in 2019, and then House members passed the measure two more times as part of federal coronavirus relief bills in 2020. But the legislation stalled, in part because former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., never acted on calendaring it for floor debate in the upper chamber.
RELATED: Senate Follows Suit in Reintroducing SAFE Banking Act
House lawmakers debated the current legislation, House Bill 1996, on the floor Monday afternoon, just hours before the official vote. In his opening remarks as the chief author of the bill, Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., said passing the measure is a matter of public safety, accountability and respecting states’ rights.
Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have either implemented or passed adult-use cannabis measures, while the majority of states have medical cannabis programs that depend on related businesses to remain fully functionable.
“Businesses in these states are forced to deal in cash,” Perlmutter said. “And the businesses, their employees and ancillary businesses can’t access the banking system. The fact is, people in states and localities across the country are voting to approve some level of cannabis use, and we need these cannabis businesses and employees to have access to checking accounts, payroll accounts, lines of credit, credit cards and more.
“This will improve transparency and accountability and help law enforcement root out illegal transactions to prevent tax evasion, money laundering and other white-collar crime. But, most importantly, this will reduce the risk of violent crime in our communities. These businesses and their employees become targets for crime, robbery, assault and more by dealing in all cash. And this puts the employees and store owners at risk.”
Last year in Oregon, a string of robberies and burglaries of cannabis businesses culminated in a murder, when Michael Arthur, a dispensary employee in Portland, was shot to death during a robbery on Dec. 14, according to Willamette Week. In 2020, Portland-area cannabis shops reported more than half a million dollars stolen, according to the weekly newspaper.
Helping motor more than $17.5 billion of legal cannabis sales in the U.S. in 2020, there were 515 banks and 169 credit unions providing services to cannabis-related businesses at the end of last year, according to Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) quarterly cannabis banking update. But not all cannabis-related businesses have access to those financial institutions, and those financial institutions don’t have guaranteed safe harbor for taking on clients who operate in a sector that is not federally legal without federal retribution.
RELATED: SAFE Banking Act Refiled on Heels of $17.5 Billion in U.S. Cannabis Sales in 2020
Section 3 of the SAFE Banking Act is not only important to cannabis businesses, but also to everyone who might do business with a cannabis-related company, Perlmutter said. That section would protect ancillary businesses, like real estate owners, accountants, electricians and vendors, by clarifying the proceeds from legitimate cannabis businesses are not unlawful under federal laws, he said.
“This proceeds section is the key provision allowing all cannabis-related businesses and their service providers, and landlords, to access the banking system without fear of reprisal,” Perlmutter said.
While Perlmutter has led the charge for cannabis banking reform for eight years, his fellow SAFE Banking Act sponsors in this Congress include Reps. Nydia M. Velázquez, D-N.Y., Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, and Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, whose legislation attracted the support of more than 170 co-sponsors when floor debate took place on April 19.
Stivers said he’s sponsoring the bill because it promotes common sense and safety, but also because it safeguards the assets of companies that merely provide products and services to cannabis businesses.
“I’m an unlikely person to support this bill, because I’m opposed to recreational marijuana,” he said. “But I came to this because a company that’s just outside my district [in the Columbus area] that sells nutrients now finds themselves in the situation where 25 percent of their profits come from selling to legal marijuana businesses, and they’re being threatened—a Fortune 500 company—with losing their bank accounts. We can’t let that happen.”
Piggybacking on those comments, Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, said, “Regardless of where you stand on the legality of cannabis, I think we can all agree it shouldn’t be that hard to sell a bag of dirt.”
But Joyce’s comments were more geared toward states’ rights.
“The vast majority of states, including my own, have enacted laws that to varying degrees permit their residents to use cannabis,” he said. “However, the federal government has not only infringed on the inherit right of these states to implement those laws, but also stifled medical research, diverted law enforcement resources needed elsewhere and hindered legitimate businesses—businesses that provide vital services to cancer patients, veterans and those seeking opioid alternatives for pain management.”
Because of the federal interference in the space, cannabis companies are not afforded the same access to financial services as every other state-legal business in the U.S., Joyce said.
While SAFE Banking picked up 15 additional Republican votes compared to its previous standalone vote in 2019, the party remained split. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., was the main voice in opposition to the legislation during floor debate on Monday. He focused much of his dissent on the fact that cannabis remains illegal at the federal level.
“By enacting this legislation, we’re effectively knee-capping law enforcement and legalizing money laundering. These are concerns that I have that still remain,” he said. “By effectively legalizing money laundering, we’re inserting a new level of risk into our financial system. We’re preventing our legal entities from doing their jobs. We’re encouraging bad actors and placing our financial institutions at risk. Rather than dealing with the issues of cannabis and the question of its federal legalization, we’re dealing with a component of the challenge, which is the banking of it.”
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., rebutted and said he believes cash-only enterprises present an invitation for money laundering without SAFE Banking in place. With the cannabis industry approaching $20 billion of revenue a year, those enterprises also remain sitting ducks for violent crimes, he said.
Stivers said SAFE Banking encourages safety because money that’s in a bank account can be frozen and can be tracked. The bill also expands suspicious activity reports (SARs)—a compliance step financial institutions servicing cannabis-businesses must take to help ensure they’re performing their due diligence on clients to help the FinCEN prevent money laundering, he said.
“The final thing is, this bill includes provisions to stop Operation Choke Point that Republicans couldn’t even get passed when we had the presidency, the Senate and the House,” Stivers said. “And we got that negotiated into this bill. It helps in a big way to make sure that there’s not an Operation Choke Point in the future, so nobody can choke off legal businesses from their bank accounts and from access to the payment system. That’s a big deal.”
Operation Choke Point was a 2013 initiative where the U.S. Department of Justice targeted banks that service a broad range of what it considered questionable financial ventures, including online payday lenders, firearm dealers and other companies believed to be at high risk for fraud and money laundering, according to the Wall Street Journal. The operation ended in 2017, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation settled multiple lawsuits by promising to Congress additional training for its examiners.
Perlmutter said SAFE Banking attracted about 50 endorsements from various national associations, such as the American Bankers Association and the National Association of State Treasurers, among other bankers, credit unions, insurance agencies, cannabis industry stakeholders, real estate owners and law enforcement agencies, not to mention 21 governors.
“They know this is a public safety matter,” he said. “We really need to address it. We have been working on it for some time. We need to get this to the Senate. They need to take whatever tack they want to take, but we’ve got to make our communities safer, these businesses safer.”
Gilberto “Berner” Milam Jr. has created an empire.
After starting his (legal) cannabis career in the early 2000s as a Bay Area budtender, the rapper/entrepreneur noticed a lack of branding in the nascent industry. With little more than a strong vision, a love for the plant and an inhuman work ethic—he’s confessed to sleeping just four or five hours a night—Berner parlayed one powerful strain into Cookies, a global lifestyle brand with more than 20 dispensaries across the U.S. and Israel, a clothing line and a new digital content platform called Couch Locked Network (CLN).
CLN will launch on 4/20 with an inaugural comedy show, “Couch Locked.” The event touts a who’s-who of famous weed connoisseurs, from Bob Saget to Donnell Rawlings. The hybrid event consists of a live show with limited tickets on an outdoor terrace at a hotel in San Francisco. Viewers not attending in person can tune in via PPV livestream on Veeps.com.
Berner spoke to Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary about how the hybrid comedy show came about, increasing Black and brown ownership in the cannabis industry, and what it would take for him to sell Cookies.
Raj Chander: Give us some background on the genesis of “Couch Locked.” How did it come together? Who was involved?
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Berner: I actually designed the logo about five years ago, I’ve been sitting on it for a while. I’ve always wanted to get into the comedy space. … Obviously, smoking bud, you know, it’s just part of what comes with it. You relax. But with COVID being COVID and not wanting to miss another 4/20 event, I thought it was the perfect time to bring a livestream, in-person, limited-ticket comedy show to the table. I wanted to laugh, man, and I feel like the world needed a laugh. We want to bring smiles to people’s faces. … This felt like a good time to implement something I’ve been sitting on.
RC: So, it sounds like you’ve had this idea for a while, even before all the COVID stuff happened, and you were just waiting for the right opportunity?
B: Yeah, I had to level up a little bit, man. I had to get the other businesses going, get the businesses to where I could take on another challenge. Because it’s actually a big challenge to jump into a new space like this and try to sell pay-per-view tickets to a live comedy event. But I think it’s going to be well received, and it’s much needed for sure.
RC: That’s interesting, because to me there’s been such a flood of virtual pop-ups, Zoom things, etc. It’s cool to hear you want to approach it a certain way and be thoughtful about it instead of just rushing into the virtual event space like a lot of others.
B: Well, yeah, if you think about it, I don’t want to watch someone rap. No disrespect to anyone doing streams like that, but for the last year, everyone’s been doing these virtual concerts. Man, you go to a concert to feel the music, to feel the vibe, to feel the energy. So, I was like “OK, what could we do that would be some type of a normal thing?” and I know that when I get high and watch comedy specials, it’s amazing. To see a live comedy special, bring you into that crowd and that atmosphere, people smoking bud while watching the show—that’s some futuristic ass shit.
RC: It seems pretty unique both in terms of the types of people you have and also the format –
B: There’s a lot of diversity in the comedians we have too. Some OGs, some new cats. I mean, we got fucking Bob Saget. It’s amazing. I grew up on “Full House,” dude! I know he’s a dirty birdie when he starts doing his comedy, and you don’t picture Danny Tanner talking like that. San Francisco live? Danny Tanner? Bob Saget? It was a no-brainer, I was like “Get that motherfucker over there!” Hopefully I can get him some weed and get him blazed, man.
RC: What’s been the biggest adjustment you’ve had to make during COVID?
B: I think just working from a distance: having to create and vibe over Zoom or through virtual networking. That shit sucks. I’m an in-person kind of guy, so just being away from that for a year, … not being at some of the store openings was really tough for me. If you go watch some of the old YouTube blogs, I’ll be at the store and I’ll be there from beginning to end. I personally shake everyone’s hand in the line. I don’t care if it’s 8 a.m. til 6 p.m.. So not being there for some of our store openings was really tough, but I think we just adapt and change. In any business, in any situation, you have to learn how to adapt and change and make it work. If not, you’ll be left in the dust.
RC: In light of the police killing of George Floyd last year and now more recently Daunte Wright, there’s been a lot of discussion about equity in the industry: Black and brown ownership, and these big corporations coming in and buying out minority license-holders. How do you think the industry can solve these problems?
B: Well as far as Cookies goes, if anyone wants to have a conversation about working with or trying to acquire us, they should know that this is something I plan on giving to my daughter one day. If they even want to have those kinds of conversations they have to sit down with us, smoke a joint, get high, and see if they’re even the right kind of person. I mean, this vision has been built for a long time. Money’s not gonna move the needle. It’s gotta be something that would complement everything I’ve worked toward.
RC: So you’d be open to that kind of acquisition deal, if the situation was right?
B: Possibly. I mean, look, at the end of the day I want to enjoy my life too. I’ve been working since I was 13. I’ve never stopped working since I was 13. As I go harder and harder as an entrepreneur, I want to enjoy my kids and enjoy my time. You only live one time. But it’d have to be the right situation. They’d have to have pure intentions, they’d have to understand the vision. It’s not gonna be possible, because people in the game now are looking for the money. It’s not about the money—we provide an experience. That’s why I said someone would have to sit down and smoke a joint with us. These big money guys, they don’t even smoke weed. And if they do, they ain’t smoking the shit I grow! That ends a lot of conversations right there too, they’ll be real quiet. Their pitch won’t be so straightforward, might have to sidetrack these motherfuckers a little bit (laughs).
But, I mean, here’s my goal man, keep Black and brown businesses empowered in the cannabis space, keep traditional operators in the game, keep people’s intentions pure and understand that this plant and this business is here for a whole other reason. Yeah. There’s a lot of money behind it, but the shit really unifies people and brings people together. It’s much needed. I don’t care about “recreational” or whatever, this shit is a medicine.
RC: What specifically do you think would be involved in what you mentioned—keeping Black and brown operators in the game—is it the government? Something in the industry, or on the consumer side?
B: It’s a big gumbo of everything. The law that New York passed, some of the tax money coming in will go toward social equity applicants. That was huge, because people being awarded licenses with no money is like being given a key to a house with no house. It doesn’t make sense. So shout out to New York for taking that first step, but I definitely encourage other states that legalize—if you’re gonna take a 30% tax off weed, at least half of that should be dedicated to equity and empowerment programs.
I think another part of it is on operators like myself. We’re building something out called the Cookies University. We’ll have a facility that does everything from A to Z. From cultivation to breeding to operations to manufacturing, dispensary, lounge, nursery, POS system training, everything. We want to empower minorities—all minorities, Asian, Black, Latino, whatever—to come learn the game hands-on from us and get that knowledge, bro. We have houses being built on the facility, and so we can empower and share that knowledge with people and give them a chance to either land a position with us at Cookies or another company.
So it goes from the government giving money out, to people like myself empowering people. We opened up the first Black-owned social equity dispensary in San Francisco (Berner’s on Haight), gave one of the fairest deals ever—that is now a blueprint for what deals should look like in the Bay Area—and make sure it’s not just like a “Let us use your license, we’ll pay you” type of situation. Nah, I trained my partner personally. I hired the staff with him. I’ve known the guy—Shawn Richards—since I was 19 years old. So, besides the money, besides the opportunity, sharing knowledge so he can go and empower other people in his network, open up other stores and build a brand. That shit to me is the most important part.
Cannabidiol (CBD) is well tolerated and is often used in the form of prescription Epidiolex®. It is sold over the counter and over the Internet nationwide. This cannabinoid is legal because it is made in the hemp plant that produces little tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and for which cultivation became legal in 2018. [1] CBD facilitates various well-studied pharmacological effects on the body such as anxiety relief, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotection, antipsychosis, and anti-epilepsy. [2]
CBD offers a unique mechanism of action for multiple disease targets for which few other treatment options exist. Cannabidiol does not act selectively on a single receptor in the human body like many drugs. Activity on multiple receptors enables a wide range of medicinal benefits, but also enables the potential for drug interactions. [2]
Potential adverse interactions occur primarily in the liver, where drugs are metabolized and detoxified by a group of enzymes Cytochrome enzymes. Negative side effects can occur when the same detoxifying enzyme is responsible for a variety of drugs. Other drugs like lorazepam and even popular diet products like caffeine can have significant interactions with CBD in the liver.
Two of the most common side effects seen when administering CBD are drowsiness and sedation. [2]
Currently, CBD is ingested by millions of people without prior assessment of age, health, current medical conditions, genetic analysis, or current drug use. Because of its widespread use, a thorough understanding of the adverse effects and potential toxicity of CBD is required. Even so, the incidence of side effects is considered to be low and benign compared to traditional drug treatments.
One of the overarching problems with CBD is its inconsistency with what products are available online or in retail stores. Mislabeling, inaccurate concentrations and contamination are common risks that can lead to additional and unpredictable adverse effects. [3] Ultimately, the dosage forms (i.e. capsules, tinctures, vapes, etc.) of CBD lead to variations Bioavailability in the body; Combined with the wide dosage range (~ 10 mg – 2,000 mg) of CBD, this can lead to potential side effects and toxicity. [4]
As CBD becomes more popular, standardized methods of making and analyzing CBD are certain to emerge. Doctors can evaluate the patient’s condition and medications to ensure maximum benefits and minimal side effects.
picture:: Erin_Hinterland of Pixabay
References::
A new open label study [1] Research into the effects of cannabidiol-based (CBD) Epidiolex® for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease found the compound had beneficial effects in patients as CBD continues to be used to treat the disease despite fewer medical studies.
The study used 100 mg / ml Epidiolex for 10 to 15 days in participants with Parkinson’s disease. The dose was titrated from 5 to 20-25 mg / kg / day; For a 150 pound person, that’s roughly 340 mg up to 1,700 mg per day. In this study the dose ranged up to 3,460 mg / day.
A total of 10 participants reported a mix of side effects and benefits resulting from the treatment. Side effects included diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, and increased appetite. Three other participants left the study due to an “intolerance” to treatment with Epidiolex. The authors state that diarrhea “could be related to sesame oil”. No adverse event was considered serious.
However, benefits were noted after 10 to 15 days, including improved motor function, night sleep, and behavior / emotional control. These benefits persisted for two weeks after discontinuation. The researchers speculate that the interactions of CBD with the Serotonin system and other non-cannabinoid signaling systems may be responsible. For example, CBD indirectly increases dopamine through the G-coupled protein receptor GPR6.
They quickly indicated that five patients had elevated liver enzymes, which they attribute to the high maximum dose. These and all other side effects resolved when CBD was discontinued.
Overall, the researchers concluded that CBD can have positive results in treating Parkinson’s. Randomized controlled trials will be needed to really determine its effectiveness in treating the disease. This is another positive development in studies looking at the effectiveness of CBD in treating a whole Variety of conditions, not just Parkinson’s.
References:
Photo courtesy of CrystalWEED cannabis
Everyone is excited about the potential medicinal benefits of cannabidiol (CBD). A recent article reviewed clinical and human observational studies on CBD dosage, effectiveness, and safety. [1] This review looked at 25 published studies from 2000 to 2019 that enrolled over 900 patients in five different countries.
CBD for anxiety, psychosis, substance abuse disorders, and more
Positive effects of CBD have been reported in the majority of studies examining CBD for anxiety. schizophreniaand nicotine addiction.
Positive effects on par with an antipsychotic have been observed when CBD was administered to patients with acute psychotic symptoms. However, CBD had no significant benefit for patients with chronic schizophrenia who were also treated with antipsychotics. This could indicate that CBD is best used in the early stages of schizophrenia. Here the dosages and delivery methods were used:
Large single doses were effective for social anxiety. In addition, small doses (16-32 mg) increased the fear of extinction in healthy subjects.
A couple of studies to look at epilepsySkin diseases and adverse drug reactions after HPV vaccination supported the use of CBD.
CBD for diabetes, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis
Type 2 diabetes, Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis have also been the subject of studies. These studies – only one study for each condition – used CBD doses ranging from 20 mg to 250 mg per day for different periods of time. They showed little or no effect from CBD treatments.
CBD side effects and risks
CBD side effects of fatigue, diarrhea, and changes in appetite / weight have been reported but are rarely severe. It is reported that CBD is always having fewer serious side effects than traditional drugs used to treat epilepsy and psychotic disorders. The authors emphasize: “Compared to other drugs, a better side effect profile was presented.”
CBD formulation and delivery methods
CBD isolate has one bell-shaped activity curveThis means it works best between low or high doses. Researchers believe that full-spectrum CBD may be due to the “Entourage effect. “Since most studies use CBD isolate, results may be worse than using full-spectrum CBD, which contains additional plant compounds such as terpenes and flavonoids. The dose of CBD can also vary depending on the delivery method. Tinctures, capsules, vapes, and topical products have different activation times and dosage considerations. Oral CBD in particular is known for its relatively low bioavailability.
Future CBD Research
Larsen and Shahinas [1] End their review by stating that these studies are a good start, but going forward, researchers will need to study larger and more diverse groups of people. They also recommend that studies consider full-spectrum CBD and other delivery methods.
Image: add weeds Unsplash
References