XPost: alt.politics.economics, sac.politics, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: alt.drugs.pot   
   From: dopers@barackobama.com   
      
   DENVER – A Colorado-based credit union created to serve the   
   country’s fast-growing legal marijuana industry sued banking   
   regulators on Thursday after being denied access to the nation’s   
   electronic banking system.   
      
   The Fourth Corner Credit Union won organizing approval from   
   Colorado regulators in November, and organizers quickly asked   
   the Federal Reserve in Kansas City in grant it a master account   
   number, allowing it to make electronic funds transfers like any   
   other bank or credit union. The Federal Reserve in Kansas City   
   this month rejected that request because the National Credit   
   Union Administration refused to grant deposit insurance to   
   Fourth Corner. The NCUA is an independent federal agency that   
   charters and supervises credit unions.   
      
   The Fourth Corner on Thursday sued both the Federal Reserve in   
   Kansas City and the NCUA, asking a federal judge to overturn   
   their decisions.   
      
   The conflict highlights a growing concern for state-level   
   regulators who have seen voters repeatedly approve legal   
   recreational and medical marijuana across the country. Fourth   
   Corner managers say the banking system needs to reflect reality.   
      
   "The majority of (marijuana related businesses) are forced to   
   operate in cash only, and to suffer the high cost of handling   
   and safeguarding this cash. The public is at risk in having   
   hundreds of millions of dollars of cash flowing about the   
   streets of Colorado," Fourth Corner wrote in its dual lawsuits.   
   "The ‘seed-to-sale’ state and municipal regulation of cannabis   
   works – until the point of sale when a sale generates cash."   
      
   Marijuana businesses in both Colorado and in Oregon struggle to   
   manage the flood of greenbacks pouring in from eager   
   recreational cannabis customers. Banks fearful of running afoul   
   of federal money-laundering laws generally refuse to service   
   marijuana businesses, which end up paying their taxes with bags   
   and buckets of cash. The cash flow has gotten so heavy at the   
   Colorado Department of Revenue that armed guards escort   
   marijuana business owners when they arrive to pay their   
   quarterly business taxes.   
      
   Fourth Corner backers had thought they’d found a way around the   
   federal banking restrictions by obtaining a state charter,   
   instead of a federal charter. Under normal policy, state-   
   chartered credit unions and banks are eligible for those Federal   
   Reserve master accounts. But without insurance from NCUA, the   
   Federal Reserve refused to grant access. The NCUA said giving   
   deposit insurance to Fourth Corner would constitute an “undue   
   risk” to its 6,300 members because marijuana remains federally   
   illegal, according to court documents.   
      
   "We consider ourselves regulated, legitimate businesses. We just   
   want to have the same access to banking that other legitimate   
   businesses have," Kristi Kelly, owner of GoodMeds marijuana   
   dispensary and one of Four Corner's founding members, told USA   
   TODAY in November. "I don't want to pay people in cash."   
      
   Under its charter, anyone with an “interest” in marijuana in   
   Colorado could have become a Fourth Corner member, which   
   organizers said would operate just like any other credit union.   
      
   Colorado lawmakers have repeatedly tried to help marijuana   
   businesses get access to banking, and have called on the federal   
   government to change the rules. They say laws aimed at   
   preventing money laundering are actually making things worse for   
   legitimate business owners in Colorado, who in some cases   
   literally “wash” their cash to remove the marijuana smell and   
   avoid tipping off suspicious bankers.   
      
   A spokesman for the Federal Reserve in Kansas declined comment   
   Friday. The NCUA could not immediately be reached.   
      
   http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2015/07/31/federal-   
   bankers-no-account-colo-cannabis-credit-union/30943749/   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)