Washington State and Colorado have legalized and regulated the sale, possession, and use of marijuana.  Now they are finding that there’s a very serious problem:   Too much cash and nowhere to safely put it.

Because the federal government’s Controlled Substances Act still classifies marijuana as a dangerous drug, state-licensed marijuana businesses are being denied access to banking services such as checking and savings accounts.

Banks, including state-chartered ones, are very concerned that Treasury and DoJ may invoke various federal laws including the Bank Secrecy Act and charge the banks with money laundering and related financial crimes if they offer traditional business banking services to the marijuana merchants.

While states like Idaho may smugly snicker at the problem faced by their neighbors, we need to very seriously and soberly consider the issue created for us and them by the next door neighbors’ very high volume of relatively unsecured cash:  violent crime.

Bricks of twenty, fifty, and hundred dollar bills in the hands of newly-legal drug merchants, people who are fundamentally small businessmen, are attractive targets.

Maybe even more significant, if the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington begins to significantly affect the bottom line of the well-organized and very violent drug cartels known or believed to operate in the United States, the cartels may become inclined to use whatever means necessary to neutralize the competition.

Suddenly the banking issues in Colorado and Washington State become issues of concern for those states’ neighbors, certainly including us in Idaho.