Medical marijuana businesses in Florida won’t be able to use banks

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If medical marijuana rolls out in November, people with legal businesses related to pot will be living like they’re in Breaking Bad. Until weed is legal on a federal level, it’s not going to be easy for people to stick their profits from the biz into a Wells Fargo. They’ll be stuck keeping tons of cash under the floor boards.
Sally Kent, a marijuana lawyer who practices in both Colorado and Florida, says this legal lag poses a huge security risk.


“If you know someone’s holding hundreds of thousands of dollars, they become a target for theft,” she says. “People know that they aren’t allowed to use a bank, so they can stake you out.” She cites a crime ring in her state where people planned to do just that — robbing people who were transporting money from so-called illicit businesses. Luckily for the entrepreneurs, the cops stopped the plan before it was carried out.
What happens in Florida will probably mirror what has happened in states where marijuana is already legal, like Colorado. In the Centennial State, it just became legal for banks to accept business from people who make their money slinging weed — with many restrictions.
Read more at the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.

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