Colorado Springs State Bank, Colo.'s Last Bank Doing Business With Medical Pot Shops, Closes Accounts

Colorado Springs State Bank, Colorado’s last bank that was openly doing business with medical marijuana sellers, has decided to close all of those accounts due to concerns about legal issues, 9News reports.

According to CBS Denver, John Whitten, Colorado Springs State Bank president, said that the legal and regulatory issues need to be resolved before banks can handle those kind of business accounts.

President of the Colorado Springs Medical Cannabis Council, Tanya Garduno, spoke with The Gazette voicing the shock in the medical marijuana business community over the decision, “Colorado Springs State Bank has been helping us for over a year and has consistently been telling us we have nothing to worry about. It was a pretty abrupt decision.”

With the last bank now refusing to do business with the medical marijuana industry, The Daily Camera reports that Colorado dispensaries are left stuck between a rock and hard place -- state law requires MMJ businesses to keep track of their transactions, but that task of record keeping is much more difficult when banks won’t work with them.

In early July, the Department of Justice threatened that it was going to begin to raid and prosecute medical pot shops even in states where the drug is legal, The Huffington Post reported. This kind of Federal law has scared off more and more banks that were at one point will to work with these small businesses operating in a strange legal gap where state law ends and federal law begins.

Some banks, especially the big banks, began withdrawing accounts from MMJ businesses back in early 2007 or 2008 when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration warned big banks that they could face potential legal liabilities if they do business with dispensaries, Reuters reported in June.

Sue Harank, co-owner of Denver’s Alpine Herbal Wellness, said that finding a bank was a “nightmare.” She opened her shop in 2010 and during the following six months two banks and a credit union closed her accounts.

Unfortunately for marijuana businesses, banks refusing to do business with them could be the least of their worries. The federal government ruled in July that marijuana has no accepted medical use and should remain in the same class as drugs as heroin, The Huffington Post reported.

Comments

[SmotPoker]

11:26 PM on 09/09/2011

They are feeling pressure from our useless government. Things have got to change and they need to change fast or we might as well set it all on fire now.

[Ed Baker]

04:42 PM on 08/26/2011

Obama is just another bought off politician taking bribes from big pharma. He lied about this. He's not only lazy, but a corrupt liar on top of it.

[InYourWorld]

06:33 PM on 08/27/2011

Well, this should not be a surprise to anyone.

His campaign was funded by the same folks that funded Mcains, and once he was sworn in he apponnted 46 lobbyists to cabinet positions.

The war on drugs is stupid, expensive, ineffective. With what we spend annually on the drug war we could provide college tuition for every graduating high school senior........ Of course that would allow us to 'nation build' in central america and keep a huge paramilitary police force employed....

[Ed Baker]

07:58 AM on 08/29/2011

Yes, and the police unions, the lawyer lobby, the defense contractors, and the mob would all be very unhappy.

[SmotPoker]

11:27 PM on 09/09/2011

As if the GOP/TP would allow those funds to be simply given away for free to students....

[aerofanbig]

02:27 PM on 08/26/2011

Hey what happened to Obama stating, almost ordering, the Feds to stop cracking down on them? Hope all you happy medical stoners remember that come election time.

[trickjames23]

10:51 AM on 08/26/2011

It's funny because if they force the industry to become a cash only business.. It becomes much more difficult to track transactions. Actually it becomes nearly impossible.
Colorado is currently running on a model to track cannabis products from seed to sale, this is going to be a huge joke once no one can track the money. Lack of banking is actually a large boon to the blackmarket.
There are still banks that do business with the MMJ industry but they are not openly soliciting accounts.

[SmotPoker]

11:28 PM on 09/09/2011

Indeed, it will only make it easier to make sales outside of the medical marijuana community. Well done fools.

[Michael Arnold]

09:22 AM on 08/26/2011

"The federal government ruled in July that marijuana has no accepted medical use and should remain in the same class as drugs as heroin"

Actually, no one from the Executive or Legislative branches of our government ruled on this, it was the DEA who stated this, so now the DEA is in charge of making our laws and drug policy, how nice, and I voted for this, when?

[Ed Baker]

04:44 PM on 08/26/2011

The folks at the DEA have to justify their jobs somehow. Obama too is bribed by big pharma and the labor unions that staff the DEA, and just about every police department in the country. Law enforcement and the mob benefit from having it illegal. I wouldn't be surprised if many of our politicians including Obama were on the take directly from the mob too.

[SteveDenver]

08:09 AM on 08/26/2011

Where are the STATES' RIGHTS crusaders on this issue? As for that federal ruling that MMJ has no medical uses, archaic ignorance reaches high and the politicization of courts by GWB remains a stain and hindrance.

[Ed Baker]

04:44 PM on 08/26/2011

Steve, are you thinking that politicians actually believe the things they say?

[Taymullah]

08:43 PM on 08/25/2011

The feds do understand the more pressure they start putting on the individual states the more people are going to start biting back.. viciously and savagely ripping their heads off through brute force activism. The people have spoken and yet now the people are being trampled on ignored and pushed into a corner, they need to understand.. we are growing very tired of this.

Those patients who struggle who cannot get out and rely on caretakers and dispensaries - They are tired of this push by the fed, those who voted to support medical marijuana are getting tired, sure in some counties where conservatives primarily dominate you see a backlash...however the MAJORITY of those who vote do speak volumes. This action and the Michigan ruling are not results of peoples votes or wants.. keep pushing..people get tired of this stuff enough they will fight back in a way not yet seen (no not violence)

[fumes]

07:01 PM on 08/25/2011

this government lie..

is now all that's left in the way of legalization:

Schedule I,
n a category of drugs not considered legitimate for medical use. Included are heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and marijuana.
Schedule II,
n a category of drugs considered to have a strong potential for abuse or addiction but that also have legitimate medical use. Included are opium, morphine, and cocaine.
Schedule III,
n a category of drugs that have less potential for abuse or addiction than Schedule I or II drugs and have a useful medical purpose. Included are short-acting barbiturates and amphetamines.
Schedule IV,
n a medically useful category of drugs that have less potential for abuse or addiction than those of Schedules I, II, and III. Included are diazepam and chloral hydrate.
Schedule V,
n a medically useful catiegory of drugs that have less potential for abuse or addiction than those of Schedules I through IV. Included are antidiarrheals and antitussives with opioid derivatives.
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Schedule+I+drug

[kingjohn1956]

04:00 PM on 08/25/2011

I don't have a comment i just automaticaly go where ever i see buds

[Erick Diaz]

01:34 PM on 08/25/2011

Boo, Boo, Rubbish, Slim, Muck, Filth, Boo, Booooooo

[Insanity rules]

01:32 PM on 08/25/2011

So who are they going to go to? The drug cartel's to help them wash their money? IDIOTS!

[juliedc]

12:42 PM on 08/25/2011

This is so ridiculous. Our government has become schizophrenic.

[Tutonehcc]

12:16 PM on 08/25/2011

Colorado marijuana is a circus run by pot clowns. Keep up with how your medical rights are being trampled on by politicians and lawyers on:

http://highcountrycaregiver.com

[j1k1]

08:19 PM on 10/06/2011

clowns eh? apparently you are not above using these clowns for your financial gain based on your spamming with a pot website with dispensaries advertising on it. I wonder if your clients know you think they are clowns?

[FrogLight316]

11:49 AM on 08/25/2011

Why is Obama's justice department going after Medical Pot? It makes no sense. Unless it has little to do with pot and a whole lot to do with the power of the federal government over the states.

[blurredmolly]

11:58 AM on 08/25/2011

because it's still illegal on the federal level?

[Erick Diaz]

01:36 PM on 08/25/2011

Illegal yes, but they get their piece of the pie, as does the state, these shops pay a ridiculous amount in taxes to the state AND the Feds, so something else is going on.

[Ed Baker]

04:46 PM on 08/26/2011

Are you on the take from the Mexican mob too?

[benfunks]

01:01 PM on 08/25/2011

The "industry" is run by people who don't give money to political campaigns. If Altria or Pfizer or another big tobacco company or pharmaceutical company was the primary distributor, I'd bet you'd see the government getting out of the way.

Government of the Corporations, By the Corporations, and For the Corporations

[FrogLight316]

02:32 PM on 08/25/2011

That is it! Silly me making it way too complex.

[lozenlee]

08:22 PM on 08/25/2011

A little bird told me that the Feds have granted 50 licenses to Big Pharma to grow and study cannabis. The Alcohol industry is behind this BIG TIME also. Head for the mountains.....head for the beer. Have you seen the Mike's Hard Lemonade commercial where there is a baseball game and the pitcher is potrayed as a slow thinking stoner and the catcher is a clean cut "with it" alcohol advocate?? Always in this country to find out what is going on-follow the money. Sad Sad Sad