Marijuana dispensaries struggling to obtain banking services

	THE ANTIQUE CANNABIS BOOK Chapter 3 - (2nd Edition) CENSORED MEDICAL STUDIES

CENSORSHIP
OUR BANKING SYSTEM
UNDER THE INFLUENCE
crime-tape

THE LINE - DO NOT CROSS
PAGE 3
OUR BANKING SYSTEM; -- NOT ABOVE THE INFLUENCE
MUSEUM FINDINGS, CONTINUES . . .

That while the banking institutions have NOT YET been specifically targeted, by the Federal government --- THAT just about ALL Banking institutions have gotten the message. . . .

Example 1: The following Headlines are taken directly off the Internet (those few that would even publish anything on the subject):

“DEA Uses Local Banks to Close Down Mendocino Marijuana Museum“

“Medical-marijuana dispensaries run into trouble at the bank“

“TCF Bank To Close All Dispensary Bank Accounts“

“Medical marijuana sellers can't take their 420 money to the bank”

“Medical Marijuana Shops Struggle With Banks, Mounting Federal Pressure
To Turn The Businesses Away “

“Pot dispensaries feeling burned by banks' reluctance to work with them”

“Feds Seize Bank Accounts Of Marijuana Dispensaries: $250K”

Note that in ALL of the above mentioned articles, the Fed’s made use of, OUT AND OUT, INTIMIDATION ---- thus forcing the bank hand.

Example 2: The following (selected postings) comes to us via a chat-site that seems to be centered around the banking industry: ^[6]

With reference [Postings for] - Accounts for cannabis dispensaries??
Original Post:
“I am looking to see if there is anyone out there that is opening accounts for cannabis dispensaries. Yes, you read this correctly! We know that there is risk involved but since the FFIEC manual has not been updated to include that specific term we are looking for some guidance to see what any other financial institution may or may not be doing for these customers. So, your help would be appreciated.”

Re: Posting No. 3
“At my former bank & my current bank, we take the position that the risk outweighs the rewards, and have opted not to bank these types of businesses. My opinion is if we do, we are knowingly allowing "illegal" activity & drug money to be funneled through the banking system. I would have to file SARs on these businesses all the time. I have no idea how other banks can justify banking them. I would love to know. Unless you took the time to go to each place & "police" that all their prescriptions are legitimate, I don't know how you can get around the SAR issue.

Re: Posting No. 4
The closest we ever got to this at my former bank (in CA) was one of our customers who was a doctor* (now deceased). He was an issuer of medical marijuana cards. After he passed away it was revealed that he was one of the highest volume issuers of these cards in the county. We never had to deal with anyone who "legally" provided the drug itself to individuals for "medicinal" use. We very closely monitored his personal and professional account relationships with us. Fortunately his activity was consistent with expected for his profession in terms of cash volume and deposits. Even though he didn't dispense it through his practice, we were still very uncomfortable with him in relation to an illegal drug. It was very much *not* worth the time invested to keep track of his activity in my opinion.

* Obviously the writer is making reference to the late Dr. Tod Mikuriya

Re: Posting No. 7
We don't. But since they are a legal business in the state of California, I'm thinking some bank somewhere is banking them.

Re: Posting No. 11
I'm guessing this is how it goes down then: -- After the Cannabis Dispensary has been turned down by X number of banks ... they get "smart" & lie about their business. -- Once the bank conducts their due diligence (hopefully) - they discover the true nature of the business & close the account. -- So the Dispensary travels to the next bank & so on & so forth. -- Depending on how fast or how thorough a bank conducts their EDD, depends how long the business has a bank account. -- I could potentially see a bank get into a lot of trouble if it was discovered they didn't follow their procedures & a business like this stayed "undetected".

[more] ---- ALL THE REST OF THE POSTINGS ARE of a similar nature. POINT BEING MADE -- ALL (bankers) seem to be living in fear of what the narc’s - JUST MIGHT DO to them in the future.

That (after extensive research by this museum into the matter) neither the DEA, nor the Justice Department, nor the Attorney Generals Office, nor the FDIC, nor any other governmental authority actually believes that these actions have ANYTHING to do with ACTUALLY LAW enforcement activity – at least not in the sense that it is helping to catch actual criminals. But instead simply see this as just another weapon, another way of harassing the Medical Cannabis dispensaries, and thus indirectly Cancer patients.

That (after extensive research into the matter) (the museums) believe that neither the DEA, nor the Justice Department, nor the Attorney Generals Office, nor the FDIC, nor any other governmental authority actually believes that these actions have ANYTHING to do with ACTUALLY LAW enforcement activity – at least not in the sense that it is helping to catch actual criminals. But instead simply see this as just another weapon, another way of harassing the Medical Cannabis dispensaries, and thus indirectly Cancer patients.

MUSEUM CONCLUSIONS:
Given all the above factors, this museum can only come to two logical conclusions:

CONCLUSION NO.1 -
That the narcotics police are taking the above actions solely as a means of INCREASING CRIME as it relates to Cannabis dispensaries. The idea is simple, the more crime is associated with Medical Cannabis dispensaries the more public support the drug police have for (what otherwise is being seen as an unholy) cause.

A quick look of the aftermath’s (caused by their banking policy) shows the following chain of events:

First and most obvious of all, a lack of banking services forces businesses (any business) into becoming an -- ALL CASH transactions -- establishment. AND it doesn’t take the bad guys too long to figure this out.

Next, ignoring for now the inconveniences that in turn drive up the costs of doing business (which in turn must be passed on to the patients), it quickly becomes evident to the BAD GUYS that there is a lot of CASH ON HAND at these establishments. And by the bad guys, we are not here talking about the narc’s, but about people who normally go around robbing people out on the streets, etc.

Now this is NOT the place to get involved in the Gun Control, verses your right to Carry Handgun debate. However, the following must be understood:

1- That when arrested the narc’s don’t just charge you with possession of Medical Cannabis. They go for anything else they can find. Example, possession of a loaded firearm while committing a felony etc.

2- That due to this fact, Cannabis Dispensaries are reluctant to keep firearms on the premises.

3- In addition, (from the authors experiences) most of these dispensaries are run by Nancy Nurse types who wouldn’t even know one end of a firearm from another.

All of which (For the bad guys) translates into – OH BOY, An easy place to rob, With lots of money in it.

Next, it should be pointed out that the Dispensaries themselves live in fear of police harassment. So even after a robbery occurs, what are the dispensary owners going to do, call the cops? Yes, they will come, Yes they will fill out a report, BUT THEN WHAT? And again, it doesn’t take the to bad guys too long to figure that one out also.

The problem – what is that expression – “Your fault, My fault, Nobodies fault . . “ every now and then things go wrong, either for the police, or for the dispensary workers, or for the bad guys, or . . . well let’s just say that it makes the newspapers.

Thus, the Banking situation (as instigated by the Department of Justice) leads to – if not an INCREASE IN CRIME then to an increase in vulnerability to crime. Thus allowing those in favor of outlawing Medical Cannabis, to falsely claim that the Cannabis Dispensaries are THE CAUSE of an increase in crime.

CONCLUSION NO.2 -
That the NARCOTICS POLICE ARE EVIL: Granted, THE WORD EVIL, is one of those words that’s been bandied around quite a lot of late. However, it does not mean that the word is inappropriate. Here is a group of people (whose actions seem primarily motivated by their paychecks), who have deliberately and maliciously engaged in the following actions:

Deny Cancer Victims (and other patients) the right to seek out medical services/medicines
Participate in the arrest of medical patients – said reason being that they have a medical need to use Cannabis.
Engage in polices, that prevent Medical Studies from even being conducted on the subject.
Through the use of the Banking Laws, seek to increase crime and thus endanger our citizens.

The list is endless, but worst of all, THEY KNOW all this. It is all-intentional; Their deliberate purpose is to cause an artificial increase in crime. One whose sole purpose is to justify their actions, allowing them to falsely claim that it’s all about crime control, NOT about medical patients etc.

Thus, what other word can be used to describe such actions, other than the word EVIL?

[ CONTINUED ===> ON TO PAGE FOUR ]

WANT TO KNOW MORE:
=====================
Due to space / download time considerations, only selected materials are displayed. If you would like to obtain more information, feel free to contact the museum. All our material is available (at cost) on CD-Rom format.
CONTACT PAGE

OUR BANKING SYSTEM
UNDER THE INFLUENCE
MAIN PAGE