Colorado credit union seeks federal approval to cater to marijuana businesses

Marijuana businesses are largely boxed out of the banking industry. Most banks will not work with marijuana businesses because marijuana is illegal federally. Last year the United States Treasury Department issued ‘guidance’ on the issue in an attempt to help banks navigate through the rules. That ‘guidance’ proved to just create more confusion and chaos. The marijuana industry is massive, and growing constantly, yet it’s an all-cash industry right now (except for the lucky few that have bank accounts, which could get shutdown at any time).

In this Friday, Nov. 27, 2015 photograph, jars of different type of marijuana sit on counter during a sale at the Denver Kush Club in north Denver. A marijuana banking case set for arguments Monday will test the federal government's stated goal of addressing the cash-only nature of the quasi-legal pot industry. (David Zalubowski, Associated Press)

A federal judge said Monday he sympathizes with pot businesses faced with contradictory regulations, but he expressed misgivings about forcing federal officials to approve a marijuana credit union.

Oregrown Industries, Inc. Recognized as Industry Trailblazer at High Times Business Summit Oregrown
Posted on: 28 Dec 15

PR Newswire

BEND, Ore., Dec. 28, 2015

BEND, Ore., Dec. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Oregrown Industries, Inc., a Bend, Oregon farm-to-table cannabis company, was recognized as an Industry Trailblazer this month by High Times at the magazine's inaugural business summit in Washington, DC.

Oregrown co-founder Aviv Hadar was awarded the honor for his dedication to advancing cannabis reform in Oregon and nationwide. 

Illinois’ medical marijuana industry has grown far more slowly than prominent boosters had hoped, but there are still plenty of people trying to profit off the new business, in particular, former law-enforcement officials.

In November the United States Postal Service sent a memo to newspaper companies in the Portland, Oregon district stating that it would not deliver newspapers and other publications if the publications included advertising for the marijuana industry. Essentially USPS took the stance that since marijuana is illegal at the federal level, the promotion of those ‘illicit goods’ is illegal too, and USPS would not be participating in those promotions in any way.

A U.S. District Court judge in Denver today will hear oral arguments in a case regarding a Denver credit union that deals with the marijuana industry and its attempt to get federally recognized.

Judge R. Brook Jackson will hear oral arguments in "The Fourth Corner Credit Union v. Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City" beginning at 9 a.m. in the Alfred J. Arraj U.S. Courthouse in Denver.

On Dec. 22, 2015, Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department detained Nicholas Cunningham and Evonne Lidoff for misdemeanor distribution of marijuana, through Kush Gods, Cunningham’s business that exchanges cannabis for contributions.

When the District’s voters passed Initiative 71, restricted property and cultivation of cannabis ended up being legal. And while the retail sale of marijuana had not been legalized, the law made it possible for individuals to transfer up to one ounce of cannabis to another individual.

2015 will be remembered as the year legalization hit bumps most supporters never anticipated. For pro-health advocates that oppose marijuana legalization, it was a year of fantastic victories! Here are the top 10:

First, kudos to the Hawaii Department of Health for publishing interim administrative rules for the state’s new medical marijuana industry weeks earlier than anticipated.

The Dec. 15 rollout gave prospective business owners nearly a month to look at how the department will regulate the industry before the license application period opens. The interim rules offer a guideline under the statute, passed last legislative session, allowing the creation of a grow-and-distribution industry for Hawaii. They will guide the first legal marketplace for the medicine since Hawaii first legalized it 15 years ago.