California could use armored cars to transport the hundreds of millions of dollars the state anticipates making in tax from marijuana sales, Newsweek writes. According to California treasurer John Chiang, the problems anticipated from the legalization of recreational cannabis in January merited such consideration.
“It is unfair and a public safety risk to require a legal industry to haul duffel bags of cash to pay taxes, employees and utility bills,” Chiang noted.
Chiang also stressed that “reliance on cash paints a target on the back of cannabis operators and makes them and the general public vulnerable to violence and organized crime.”
The potential problems that may come alongside the legalization of the drug for recreational use could be exacerbated by the conflict between federal and state law on the issue because even though Californians voted to legalize the drug, it remains illegal under federal law. This illegality means problems for those in the marijuana business, including often being forced to operate largely in cash as banks back away from doing business with them, Newsweek notes.
In a report that cited findings from California’s Cannabis Banking Working Group, Chiang said lawmakers in Washington D.C. must act to offer banks protection if they do business with those in the cannabis industry, or move to legalize weed on a federal level.
Adding to his recommendations, Chiang also wrote that “the clash between state and federal law threatens to cripple legal California cannabis businesses before they even get up and running.”
“The inability of cannabis operations to get banking services means that many of them may remain in the underground economy and not become transparent, regulated, tax-paying businesses, as California voters intended,” Chiang explained.
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