Attorney General Holder announced a plan to clear the way for legal marijuana businesses to have access to the banking system.
This is a big deal, and is another signal that the administration is willing to accept the reality of state marijuana laws.
But the next big hurdle that MUST be overcome is the (mis)classification of marijuana as Scheduled I Controlled Substance under federal law. This classification is reserved for drugs that are highly addictive and have no accepted medical value.
UPDATE: We may already have movement on this. According to The Hill, Congressmen Earl Blumenauer is already working on this:
Blumenauer said he is gathering signatures from fellow lawmakers on a letter pressing President Obama to pull marijuana from the Schedule 1 list.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Thursday that lawful marijuana businesses should have access to the American banking system and that the government would soon offer rules to help them gain it. The rules are not expected to give banks a green light to accept deposits and provide other services, but would tell prosecutors not to prioritize cases involving legal marijuana businesses that use banks.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
This is very big news.
There was an article just a few weeks back that outlined the problems marijuana merchants were facing, being forced to deal with huge amounts of cash:
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Legal marijuana merchants like Mr. Kunkel — mainly medical marijuana outlets but also, starting this year, shops that sell recreational marijuana in Colorado and Washington — are grappling with a pressing predicament: Their businesses are conducted almost entirely in cash because it is exceedingly difficult for them to open and maintain bank accounts, and thus accept credit cards.
...
“Banking is the most urgent issue facing the legal cannabis industry today,” said Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association in Washington, D.C. Saying legal marijuana sales in the United States could reach $3 billion this year, Mr. Smith added: “So much money floating around outside the banking system is not safe, and it is not in anyone’s interest. Federal law needs to be harmonized with state laws.”
Holder and the administration accepting that practical solutions are necessary is another strong signal that they are taking a realistic approach to the reality of the legal marijuana business - both recreational, and medical - that already exists in the states.
The DOJ memo from last August announced that the Federal Government would not interfere in state marijuana laws, outside of 8 specific Federal enforcement priorities.
That was the first signal that the administration was not going to aggressively fight the clear trends in reform and legalization of marijuana laws that is happening in the states.
Ethan Nadlemann of the Drug Policy Alliance said on twitter:
“I have to say I'm impressed by how the Obama admin seems to be acting in good faith in helping CO & WA make legalization work.”
But the reality is that marijuana possession is still a Federal crime. The laws of 20 states that have legal medical marijuana are clearly in conflict with federal statutes.
The Federal classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance - a classification reserved for dangerous substances that are both highly addictive, and have no medically accepted use - is simply unworkable.
It is also clearly nonsense. Tens of thousands of patients with conditions such Crohn’s disease and Glaucoma, or those fighting the side effects from chemotherapy or AIDS have found relief from pain, debilitating nausea, and other ailments by using legal, prescribed medical marijuana.
Moving marijuana out of Schedule 1, and into a different category with other drugs with legal uses would not have to be a signal that the Feds think legalization is ok, or even that marijuana is completely harmless.
It would just be another practical solution to what currently remains an unworkable situation.