A new bill aimed at improving Montana marijuana dispensaries capacity to conduct financial transactions may become law.
Montana Senator Daines and others are in favor of a bill that would allow marijuana dispensaries to use banks. Currently most dispensaries in Montana are cash-only businesses because marijuana is federally illegal so financial institutions cannot be used.
Zach Shoppe, the owner of Seed of Life Labs, a dispensary in Havre is “cautiously optimistic” for the Bill.
“I’m cautiously optimistic. I sure hope to see it get passed. It means a lot being championed by Senator Steve Daines, a Montana native. I feel like we should be treated like any other business. Those of us in compliance with the hefty regulations, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to use a bank. Not being able to bank is a security risk, it’s a safety risk, and a logistical nightmare.”– Zach Shoppe
While the bill may fix the “logistical nightmare” of operating in all cash, the DOJ outlined their concerns with the bill.
The DOJ wrote in a memo some linguistic concerns regarding how the bill’s wording may be interpreted. They also listed more substantial issues, for example, they claimed the SAFE Banking Act immunizes from federal prosecution businesses based on their classification as a “cannabis-related legitimate business” or marijuana-related “service provider” rather than based on the type of business model. Therefore, according to the DOJ, businesses that engage in both state-legal marijuana business activities and other activities or operations, whether legal or illegal, could potentially be immune from prosecution under the Act based solely on its classification as a legitimate business.
