Banks cleared to accept marijuana money. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/02/14/banks-cleared-to-accept-marijuana-business/ (CNN) -- The U.S. government issued rules on Friday for the first time allowing banks to legally provide financial services to state-licensed marijuana businesses. The Justice Department issued a memorandum to prosecutors that closely follows guidance last August largely limiting federal enforcement priorities to eight types of crimes. These include distribution to children, trafficking by cartels and trafficking to states where marijuana isn't legal. If pot businesses aren't violating federal law in the eight specific priorities, then banks can do business with them and "may not" be prosecuted. The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued guidelines that Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery said was intended to signal that "it is possible to provide financial services" to state-licensed marijuana businesses and still be in compliance with federal anti-money laundering laws. The guidance falls short of the explicit legal authorization that banking industry officials had pushed the to government provide. But because marijuana remains illegal under federal law, classified alongside heroin as among the most dangerous substances, officialls say this is as far as the government can go. Shasky Calvery said the government can't give any legal guarantees and acknowledged that some financial firms won't likely choose to do business with pot businesses. Marijuana has been legalized for recreational and other uses under state laws in Colorado and Washington state. Eighteen other states and the District of Columbia allow marijuana use for medicinal purposes. Attorney General Eric Holder said recently that he was moved to act as "an attempt to deal with reality that exists in these states." Speaking at the University of Virginia's Miller Center last month, Holder said forcing marijuana businesses to be cash businesses, because they can't access banks, was a public safety problem. "Huge amounts of cash, substantial amounts of cash, just kind of around with no place for it to appropriately deposited is something that would worry me from just a law enforcement perspective," he said. FinCEN's legal guidance creates two new categories for banks to report transactions with marijuana businesses. All transactions will be labeled as "suspicious" and banks will have to file so-called Suspicious Activity Reports. Those transactions that banks believe are legal marijuana business can be reported to FinCEN as "marijuana limited" transactions. Those that banks believe may be illegal would be filed as "marijuana priority" transactions and would generate further scrutiny from regulators. Michael Elliott, executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group, the largest marijuana business association in Colorado, said members were pleased with the decision. "While we believe today's guidance should provide banks some of the assurances they need to begin doing business with the marijuana industry, it doesn't solve all the problems," Elliott said in a statement. Elliott's group wants Congress to approve pending legislation that would "provide certainty for banks and allow our industry to operate just like any other business," he said. Frank Keating, president and CEO of the American Bankers Association, said the new rules aren't enough to reassure banks. "While we appreciate the efforts by the Department of Justice and FinCEN, guidance or regulation doesn't alter the under challenge for banks," he said. "As it stands, possession or distribution of marijuana violates federal law, and banks that provide support for those activities face the risk of prosecution and assorted sanctions." Reschedule marijuana? http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/02/13/lawmakers-push-obama-to-reclassify-marijuana/?iref=allsearch (CNN) – A group of lawmakers are pushing President Barack Obama to remove marijuana from its classification as a dangerous narcotic. The federal government places pot in the same category as heroin and ecstasy as a schedule 1 controlled substance – a drug with high potential for abuse but no accepted medical use. Follow @politicaltickerFollow @danadavidsen In a letter, signed on Wednesday by 17 Democrats and one Republican, to the President, lawmakers cite Obama's recent comments that he sees smoking marijuana as no more dangerous than drinking alcohol. "As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life. I don't think it is more dangerous than alcohol," Obama recently told The New Yorker. The lawmakers said marijuana's current classification "makes no sense," pointing to wasted law enforcement resources under "harsh, unrealistic, and unfair marijuana laws." "You said that you don't believe marijuana is any more dangerous than alcohol: a fully legalized substance, and believe it to be less dangerous 'in terms of impact on the individual consumer.' This is true," the letter says. "Marijuana, however, remains listed in the federal Controlled Substances Act at Schedule I, the strictest classification, along with heroin and LSD. This is a higher listing than cocaine and methamphetamine, Schedule II substances that you gave as examples of harder drugs." Voters in two states, Colorado and Washington, opted last November through ballot measures to legalize recreational marijuana use. Another 18, along with the District of Columbia, allow some legal pot use, primarily for medicinal purposes. The federal government said it would not challenge state laws legalizing marijuana. The President told The New Yorker it was important for those states' laws to move forward, calling them "experiments," but the White House has said the President remains opposed to a nationwide decriminalization of marijuana. Attorney General Eric Holder can remove marijuana from its classification after an independent scientific review. But Holder has said that his preference was for Congress to act, underscoring that federal enforcement effort would focus on preventing marijuana use in minors. "What is and isn't a Schedule I narcotic is a job for Congress," Obama said in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper. Holder also said recently that local business selling marijuana should have access to the American banking system, and that Justice Department is working with the Treasury to come up with rules providing an avenue for banks to handle legal revenue. Discuss. Peace.....
IMO, rescheduling is the only solution. As long as banks are required to label and report State legal MJ business as "suspicious" or "marijuana limited" the Feds are then able to track, and harass via IRS at will, any business so labeled. That's the intent of such Fed financial statute and don't believe for one minute that some law and order ideologue won't use it. Basically it's saying the banks have to do the dirty work for the Feds so they can prioritize their future targets.
If I were to run a MJ business today. NO WAY IN HELL WOULD I DEPOSIT ANY MONEY IN A BANK RIGHT NOW!!!!. That's just begging for the feds to tie it up in bureaucratic limbo indefinitely. Buy the biggest, baddest safe they make and some armed guards, fuck off. I'd report it like your supposed to and, roll on. Until the Feds make it legit, it just screams seizure, unless you have it on person. I'd burn the shit before I'd let them have it.
Really!! If you write the bitches a check it'll bounce:coolbounce: because your account has been frozen while they climb up your ass looking for shit knowing they'll find some. And if the bank knows it's "drug" money they're risking a laundering investigation. Looks like a 'no win' 'no win' to me. Be Cool, CG
