The state of Florida has possibly found a solution to the banking issue of cannabis dispensaries by opening the state’s first cannabis bank: First Green Bank. The bank will exclusively offer its services to dispensaries, growers and other cannabusinesses that regular banks won’t touch with a ten foot pole. Florida legalized medical cannabis back in November of last year.
First Green Bank has signed up six of the seven medical cannabis dispensaries in Florida. This will enable dispensaries in Florida to deal in other forms of currency besides cash, which is both a huge inconvenience and exceedingly dangerous.
There’s a heartwarming side to this story too. Owner Ken La Roe decided to open a bank for medical cannabis providers because medical cannabis cured his wife of her seizures. La Roe claims cannabis helped get his wife off of her seizure medication in six months, and then cured her seizures completely six months after that. That made me a little teary eyed, actually.
La Roe says that it’s also a matter of public safety. “It's really a public safety issue that this industry can't be banked and safely have banking services and do it all in cash,” he told a local Fox affiliate. La Roe points out that First Green Bank doesn’t only do business with dispensaries and other businesses that deal with cannabis directly, “The physicians, the lawyers, the guy that's selling fertilizer,” he explained, “they've all got the same problem of not being able to find a bank,” he said.
Other states, such as California are considering adopting a similar solution, except their bank would be state owned. Though these banks are not without their problems, they're certainly a better solution than nothing at all. If the people who are so opposed to legal cannabis are so worried about dispensaries being the targets of crime, then they should work on passing a law to allow banks to conduct business with dispensaries.
Source: Fox Orlando
Image Source: firstgreenbank.com
What do you think? Do you think these types of banks are the solution to the cannabis banking crisis? Share in the comments!