Cannabis loans and investments.

FREE Cannabis Loans and Investments Webinar: February 28th

Register Here Please join us for our latest cannabis business webinar, focused on “Cannabis Loans and Investments”. In 2024, a constellation of factors makes things very interesting for both cannabis industry investors and businesses: More states are open for business and investment than ever before In the macroeconomic environment, interest rates are high (especially compared

cannabis banking

Cannabis Banking Today

We are helping build out another cannabis banking program here in Oregon. My law firm has done a series of these for credit unions (“CU”s) and other financial institutions (“FIs”) going back to 2014. We have also handled a good bit of hemp banking work– mostly in 2019 and 2020 before that industry cratered. In

safe banking

How Important is the SAFE Banking Act, Anyway?

I’m pretty sure that more ink has been spilled on the Secure and Fair Enforcement Act (“SAFE Banking”), than any other proposed cannabis law. It just won’t pass and it just won’t die. Specifically, SAFE Banking was introduced in 2017 and it passed the House seven times (seven times!) with bipartisan support since 2019. The

marijuana rescheduling

Three Myths and Three Facts on the HUGE Marijuana Rescheduling Recommendation

Huge news yesterday. Huge! The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has officially recommended that marijuana be rescheduled, from Schedule I to Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA). This means that the country’s top health agency has finally conceded that cannabis has medical value, and isn’t a drug of abuse

SAFE Banking Act

Breaking Down the Safe Banking Act: Why It Matters for Cannabis Businesses, Financial Institutions and Consumers

The Safe Banking Act, also known as the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act (SAFE Banking Act), is sorely needed legislation to address the critical issue of financial services being denied to marijuana businesses that operate in the state-legalized industries. We’ve written extensively about the SAFE Banking Act over the past several years. See here,

doj

Update: DOJ and SAFE Banking Act

As we blogged about last week, the SAFE Banking Act is trying to claw its way back from the dead during this lame duck session of Congress. Interestingly, on December 2, Punchbowl News reported that the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a memo outlining its “issues” with the SAFE Banking Act. Here’s the memo (“Memo”).

safe banking act

Will the Senate Ever Do Anything with the SAFE Banking Act?

As we’ve written about over the past several years, there have been consistent rallying cries for common-sense banking reform for the cannabis industry. The SAFE Banking Act, which would allow federally regulated financial institutions to work with state-legal cannabis businesses, has been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives a whopping seven times. However, the

ncsl cannabis legalization directive

States to Feds: End Cannabis Prohibition Now

After a vote last week, the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) adopted a revised cannabis policy measure (the “Directive“) which supports federally descheduling cannabis, as well as cannabis banking reform. At this point, it’s abundantly clear that the states have moved beyond cannabis prohibition. The NCSL is a non-partisan organization that represents all state

safe banking act

Signs of Life for the SAFE Banking Act?

The SAFE Banking Act has languished in Congress since early 2017, a victim of political gridlock and division, as well as political wrangling over broad approaches to cannabis legalization.  We last covered the SAFE Banking Act in February, when it looked as though 2022 would be the sixth year in which this bill would die.

fintechwebcannabis

Top Cannabis FinTech Companies in Web3

Cannabis companies are largely behind the curve in Web3, but in the past few months some top cannabis companies have emerged in the Web3 ecosystem to join the old guard. The connection between cannabis and Web3 may not be apparent at first glance, but both industries are relatively nascent, semi-regulated, and attracting some of the