A coalition of 35 cannabis trade associations, drug policy reform groups and a top national labor union are calling on Congress to help address the “humanitarian toll” of robberies targeting cash-intensive marijuana businesses by passing a bipartisan cannabis banking bill “this year.”
As the Senate Banking Committee prepares to vote on the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act next week, the coalition sent a letter to congressional lawmakers on Tuesday that described passage of the legislation as a “moral imperative.”
The letter, led by StoptheDrugWar.org and the Cannabis Alliance, offers a worker safety perspective on the issue, explaining how the current lack of access to financial services for marijuana businesses has created an untenable environment that puts cannabis workers and customers at unique risk of being victimized by crime.
“Between the directly targeted personnel, their friends and loved ones, and their at-risk colleagues, the impacted population numbers in the thousands,” the organizations wrote. “Customers of these stores, who had sought a safer environment by taking their business to the state-legal system instead of the underground market, can also be considered an impacted population.”
“The number of people affected in these ways will continue to grow with the passage of
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