News flash: FinCen can’t legalize pot banking

The effort to legalize marijuana on the federal level received a high level push in December when Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren joined a group of senators in a letter to FinCEN. Her celebrity status has triggered another round of  media coverage;  After all, she is already being mentioned as a potential nominee for president with the next election only four years away and she likes to tweet which is  a core prerequisite for the office.

By joining the most recent letter writing campaign she has once again put the spotlight on the Alice in Wonderland world of legalized pot. It makes perfect sense for the senator to join the push for legalizing cannabis. In November, Massachusetts voters approved a referendum to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes. There are now 29 states, including New York, which legalize the possession of marijuana to some extent.

What drives me nuts is that Warren and her fellow senators once again chose to badger FinCEN to approve additional guidance clarifying that banks and credit unions can provide banking services to pot businesses in states in which they are legal. To be clear, I believe that the federal government should legalize the sale and distribution of marijuana in those states where it is legal. I also believe that banks and credit unions should be able to provide services to these legitimate businesses. The senators correctly point out that even though FinCEN issued a 2014 guidance detailing the conditions under which it would allow them to do so fewer than three percent of the nation’s banks and credit unions are willing to serve this industry.

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