** FILE ** In this Aug. 24, 1931 file photo, a crowd gathers in front of the main banking office of the United States National Bank in Los Angeles. The bank, a member of the Federal Reserve System, and its eight branches, closed a day earlier. The Reconstruction Finance Corp., the agency created in 1932 to make the government's bank investments, accomplished its mission, but then branched out to become a massive bureaucracy that faced allegations of fraud and corruption that led to its demise 25 years later. (AP File Photo)

A pesky problem: Why the cannabis industry still can’t openly bank

The burgeoning cannabis industry continues to grow — sales in Colorado are on pace to surpass $1 billion in 2016 and at least a half-dozen states will be voting on marijuana-related initiatives this November.

But cash still has to be king in this business.

“(Banking is) still at a standstill right now,” says Alicia Wallace, Cannabist national policy and business reporter. “Marijuana — on a national level, on a federal level — is still illegal, so there are no firm regulations on banking.”

Wallace joins The Cannabist Show to talk with Cannabist editor-in-chief Ricardo Baca about what has progressed in banking, how marijuana businesses have adapted, and the efforts of operators such as Colorado’s Fourth Corner Credit Union.


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