By now, the cannabis industry is used to many of the challenges associated with doing business in a federally illegal marketplace, but that doesn’t make the setbacks any easier.
Last week, Dr. Sue Sisley, president of Scottsdale Research Institute (SRI), which has been conducting FDA-approved trials to evaluate cannabis as a medical treatment for military veterans and terminally ill patients, took to Twitter to share that Bank of America closed the institute’s account with no explanation. While Sisley told Law360 that there are “numerous other banks ready to do business with SRI” and that she expects the institute’s research to continue uninterrupted, the incident highlights the ongoing need for banking reform in the industry.
The Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which would provide a safe harbor for financial institutions that provide banking services to legitimate cannabis-related businesses like SRI, passed the U.S. House for the fourth time last month, this time as part of a defense spending package. But until lawmakers get the job done on banking reform (or federal descheduling), researchers like Sisley, as well as the countless state-legal businesses across the cannabis supply chain, run the risk of sudden and inexplicable account closures—or being denied banking services altogether.
- Melissa Schiller, Senior Digital Editor
