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By Noah Tomares, Senior Analysis Analyst, New Frontier Knowledge
Earlier than Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas fill the rest of our yr with worry and cheer, we at New Frontier Knowledge want to take a second to deal with one other, newer custom: Congressional consideration of SAFE Banking.
A model of The Safe and Honest Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act has been launched in each Congress since 2013. The early drafts of SAFE Banking, if handed, would introduce three necessary adjustments to the best way that monetary establishments are allowed to work together with the hashish business.
- It could stop the Federal Deposit Insurance coverage Company (FDIC) from threatening and/or withholding protection from a monetary establishment that gives its companies to a licensed hashish enterprise in compliance with its state’s laws.
- Banks depositing proceeds from state-licensed hashish gross sales wouldn’t be thought of cash laundering underneath federal legislation.
- Financial institution belongings wouldn’t be seized for providing loans to licensed, authorized hashish firms.
With out SAFE Banking, and entry to monetary establishments, authorized hashish dispensaries are basically pressured to transact primarily in money. With New Frontier Knowledge presently projecting $32B in gross sales in 2023, having a lot foreign money readily available places these places at larger danger of theft and necessitates extra safety to guard each the retail location and their income.
In 2019, extra language was integrated to guard insurers who present protection to licensed hashish firms. This was additionally the primary time SAFE Banking handed within the Home of Representatives. The SAFE Banking Act would cross the Home 6 extra occasions (a complete of seven) by July 2022; it by no means handed within the Senate.
Now, in 2023, the revised SAFER Banking Act is working its approach via the higher chamber. The invoice was lately amended in committee and Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer has dedicated to carry it to the ground “very quickly.”
Whereas Congressional approval is at all times fraught with competition, the American individuals are way more unified. In keeping with New Frontier Knowledge’s newest client survey, 64% of Individuals (and 89% of hashish shoppers) imagine hashish needs to be legalized/decriminalized. Most shoppers (73%) and half of nonconsumers (50%) additionally agree that authorized hashish is safer than unlawful hashish.
Whether or not the Senate-led effort to introduce banking protections succeeds or not stays to be seen, however within the 10 years since SAFE Banking was initially launched, the hashish business has skilled great progress. 23 states + D.C have legalized Grownup-Use of hashish, and one other 16 states have legalized Medical-Use solely. 246 million Individuals have entry to high-THC authorized hashish in some kind. Greater than half of U.S. adults have both consumed hashish or are concerned with making an attempt it. For extra info on the rising number of hashish shoppers, examine our out newest in our collection of hashish client studies: Hashish Shoppers in America 2023 Half 2: Exploring the Archetypes.
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