SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California’s state treasurer and attorney general are proposing a way to get marijuana-related cash off the streets.
California voters approved Proposition 47 in November, legalizing recreational marijuana. It’s poised to become a multi-billion dollar industry.
However, marijuana is still a drug under federal law. That prohibits banks that are chartered and insured by the federal government from dealing with marijuana money. So for now, marijuana sales are cash-only.
The lack of banking has left the marijuana businesses with a huge amount of cash, leading to robberies and other crimes.
On Monday, California Treasurer John Chiang said he’s introducing a way that could lead to the creation of a state bank that can deal with money from legal marijuana businesses.
“You know, we’ve had too many instances of violence,” Chiang said. “You have an underground economy that’s going to grow dramatically.”
A state bank still could face uncertainty, as it remains unclear how it would be recognized by the federal government and what kind of approvals it would require from California lawmakers and voters.
State banks are nothing new–the Bank of North Dakota serves as one example–but so far none of them have dealt with marijuana-related businesses.
Chiang, who is also running for governor, plans to release details about his proposal soon. He said he’s working with Attorney General Xavier Becerra to perform a legal study around the creation of the public bank.
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