Back in the day, weed or cannabis was illegal, which meant that no one could sell it or consume it legally. However, nowadays, the legal landscape is rapidly changing, which is why numerous states all across the US decided to legalize it for both medicinal and recreational use.

A few decades ago, marijuana was a Schedule I drug, but due to its health benefits, it gained support, which leads to numerous legalization movements. Today, you can find medical and recreational marijuana dispensaries or stores in twenty-nine states where adults could purchase it.

By checking here, you will be able to learn more about federal weed regulations.

The main problem lies in the idea that the process of buying is not that simple. Even though the weed is legal in the state you live in, it is still considered illegal at the federal level. Since federal regulations tend to affect state laws, this particular industry is still unregulated.

That is the main reason why it is excluded from the typical financial services. As a result, credit card companies cannot lend money to weed dispensaries because that would lead to legal issues and prosecution.

It means that customers or consumers cannot use debit or credit cards as payment methods inside the weed stores. Since people can only spend cash inside, the problems tend to arise, purchasing powers decrease, which leads to lower sales inside the stores.

Weed Industry Doesn’t Have Credit

Since the prosecution was the only liable situation in case of credit card companies decide to take advantage of legalization, they backed down and detached themselves completely. The facts are that weed dispensaries cannot use the credit card benefits similar to other retailers.

Another problem arose when Cole Memorandums were rescinded. This particular memo provided a form of protection to medical weed stores.

However, since the Jeff Sessions replaced the Cole Memos in 2018, that created an opportunity in which this particular market was not protected anymore.

Learn more about Cole Memorandum by entering this website: https://www.justice.gov/iso/opa/resources/3052013829132756857467.pdf for more info.

Purchasing Options

Since the debit or credit card options are not possible because of the things we have mentioned above, consumers have to consider other payments methods such as:

• Cash – Even though cash is still money with the same value as the one on the account, this particular situation created an additional burden to dispensaries. Since they cannot use banking services, the cash payment became the only option for buyers. This particular problem meant that stores could only accept cash, which reduced the purchasing power and amount. According to studies, people are inconvenient because they cannot use the cards, which reduces sales of at least thirty percent. Since banks cannot service the cannabis dispensaries because they are afraid of federal prosecution, it means that they cannot deposit the cash they earn the same way as other businesses. Therefore, everything that marijuana dispensaries pay goes around in cash, which includes paying for taxes, buying from vendors, and paying employees, among other things. At the same time, cash tends to put customers at risk because the percentage of armed robberies at medical and recreational weed dispensaries rapidly increased due to this particular regulation. The inability to regulate traditional banking created the problematic public safety risk, especially since dispensaries have plenty of cash at hand compared with other stores.
• ATMs – Since the cash is an only payment option, most recreational and medical weed stores use various types of ATMs so that customers could process the payments. The ATMs will allow customers to withdraw the amount on-site, which is a safer option than having money in their wallets. At the same time, it allows customers to exchange cash for vouchers that they can use in cannabis stores, which are cashless automated teller machines. That created another complication when it comes to federal weed laws because ATM banks do not wish to lend or sell their machines to stores, which is why the number of frauds increased significantly. Implementing a marijuana dispensary atm machineis the best way to provide additional convenience to customers, especially if they forget their cash or if they are uncertain to bring the piles of money in their pockets. Of course, businesses have to either purchase or lease an ATM, which can be profitable, but it is another inconvenience that the federal government creates for this particular industry.