Cannabis reclassification could end dispensaries' financial exile

Decades after individual states began to allow the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes, licensed dispensaries still can’t accept credit or debit cards.

Nearly two decades after individual states began allowing cannabis to be used for medicinal purposes, many licensed dispensaries still can’t accept credit or debit cards because payment processors won’t take them on as clients.

They also have trouble getting loans from traditional banks, where cannabis companies are viewed as high-risk clients.

Ever since the Controlled Substances Act was signed into law in 1970, federal regulators have grouped cannabis together with some of the most restricted drugs in America, such as heroin and LSD.

This classification, known as Schedule I, is reserved for drugs the government believes have no known medical benefit and a high risk of dependence. Manufacturing, buying, selling and possessing Schedule I controlled narcotics without specific authorization is a federal crime.

As long as cannabis remains classified under Schedule I, nearly every dollar earned by the industry could be construed as the proceeds of a federal crime.