Banks Need Government's Help to Say Yes to Weed, Lawmakers Argue
- Senators ask agencies to clarify what transactions are legal
- Cash pot businesses are targets for criminals, Democrats say
Marijuana plants grow at the MedMar Healing Center, a medical-marijuana dispensary, in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A group of lawmakers want to make it easier for banks to just say yes to the booming business for legalized marijuana.
Four Democratic U.S. senators from Washington, Colorado and Oregon, asked a group of regulators Thursday to clarify how lenders can help finance the industry and still comply with the law so that companies in states that permit pot sales don’t have to run their businesses solely on cash.