Michael Arthur was a father to a 5-year-old son named Axel. He was a boyfriend to Chiara Ryder, whom he knew for nearly 30 years. He was an older brother to Loren Arthur. And he was an extended family member to many.
For nearly two years, Arthur made a living as a budtender at Cured Green, a cannabis dispensary on the north side of Portland, Oregon. On Dec. 14, 2020, the 44-year-old African American was shot to death in a robbery while doing his job. Arthur’s murderer made away with a few containers of cannabis and a tip jar containing less than $20, according to Willamette Week.
In an interview with the weekly newspaper, Ryder said, “Michael was an amazing, amazing person. He treated people with acceptance, and he treated people with kindness. He really was the best example of a father that I’ve ever known.”
In the 10 months leading up to Arthur’s murder, Oregon Liquor Control Commission data shows Portland cannabis shops had been robbed, burglarized or looted 95 times—more than half a million dollars was reported stolen overall in 2020.
Operating in a sector that often doesn’t have access to the banking system, many cannabis companies deal primarily in cash. As a result, those cash-only enterprises remain sitting ducks for violent crime, Rep. Early Blumenauer, D-Ore., said during debate in the U.S. House, hours before the lower chamber passed the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act on April 19.
One of the pillars to cannabis banking reform includes keeping store owners and their employees safe by removing the cash targets that attract crime, robbery and assault, said Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., the chief author of the bill. During his opening statement on the House floor, Perlmutter mentioned Arthur’s death as well as others.
“Just last week in Colorado, an innocent bystander was shot during an attempted break-in at a medical cannabis business,” he said. “And, in Colorado, we are always reminded of Travis Mason, the young father and Marine Corps vet who was murdered while working as a security guard for a cannabis business. We must do better for these employees, their families and all our communities.”
A husband and father of three, Mason was 24 when he was shot and killed in June 2016 at the Green Heart Dispensary in Aurora. He had only worked there for two weeks. His killers haven’t been caught in the unsolved murder.
As cannabis sales continue to soar throughout the U.S., the need for safe banking only becomes more apparent. In 2020, nationwide sales of legal cannabis surpassed $17.5 billion, and that figure will likely be shadowed by 2021.
Illinois adult-use cannabis sales hit a new high, topping $109 million in March; Maryland’s medical cannabis dispensaries recorded $48.1 million of sales in March, a 41% increase from a year ago; and average daily medical cannabis sales approached $900,000 in Arkansas during a recent 31-day reporting period, roughly a $300,000 daily average increase from September, as Assistant Editor Andriana Ruscitto wrote this week.
Planet 13, dubbed the world’s largest cannabis dispensary, with a 23,000-plus-square-foot retail facility that includes 85 checkout registers in Las Vegas, announced Thursday that it recorded a single-day record of $543,000 in sales on April 20.
All that money belongs in a safe place—the bank.
-Tony Lange, Associate Editor
