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Much has occurred in the last two months regarding the relationship between financial institutions and Marijuana-Related Businesses, or MRBs. In this post, we discuss three major developments, all of which share a complex connection. First, the National Credit Union Administration (“NCUA”) recently pursued its first enforcement action against a credit union for Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) compliance failures when servicing MRBs. Second, two cannabis industry executives were convicted of bank fraud for allegedly tricking banks and other financial institutions into unwittingly extending financial services to their MRB. Third, and despite this enforcement drumbeat regarding MRBs, Congress has introduced again, with bi-partisan support, the SAFE Banking Act, which seeks to normalize the banking of cannabis by prohibiting federal bank regulators from taking certain actions against financial institutions servicing MRBs
Once Dismissed as a Fringe, Counterculture Vice, Psychedelics Are Rapidly Approaching Acceptance in Mainstream Medicine
These drugs uniquely change the brain, and a person’s awareness of experiences, in the span of just a few hours. This fast-acting shift could be useful in mental-health treatments, and research is already supporting this notion. Just one dose of Psilocybin, the active ingredient in Magic Mushrooms, was recently shown to ease depression and anxiety in cancer patients an outcome that lasted for years after their trip. Researchers are recognizing that Psychedelics can provide a radical new approach to mental-health treatments at a time when innovation is desperately needed. Ibogaine is one of the most promising psychedelics for addiction. Now, for the first time, some upstart pharmaceutical companies, including ATAI Life Sciences and
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Until the 1990s, when marijuana laws started to loosen, getting busted for possession of pot in some states carried the potential of a multi-year prison sentence. As a teenager in Massachusetts during the Nixon-Carter era, I witnessed friends getting tossed into the hoosegow just for holding a few joints.
But nowadays, even the nation’s top cops are clamoring for the normalization of marijuana laws.
Recent case in point: Three state attorneys general and the top prosecutor for Washington, DC sent a letter on April 1 (no, it wasn’t an April Fool’s Day joke) to congressional leaders, stating their strong support for legislation that would protect banks that serve state-legal cannabis markets from being penalized by federal regulators.
By State House News Service
The New England Council, a business-minded organization that maintains close ties to members of Congress from the six northeast states, last week voiced its support for federal legislation to protect banks working with state-legal marijuana companies from federal regulatory penalties.
Because marijuana remains wholly illegal at the federal level, state-authorized businesses have struggled to find banks, most of which operate under federal regulations and with federal insurance, willing to accept them as customers. Industry leaders and other supporters now including the New England Council said passage of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act would allow the largely cash-only legal marijuana industry to move towards other payment options, potentially reducing the risks of tax evasion, money laundering and robbery.
SAFE Act Updates: Cannabis Banking in the US natlawreview.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from natlawreview.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.