Feds Push Banks to Spy On Legal Marijuana Dealers

[marmar]

via AlterNet:





Drug War Chronicle / By Clarence Walker

Feds Push Banks to Spy On Legal Marijuana Dealers
The government has forced banks and financial institutions to enlist as foot soldiers in the war on drugs.

March 20, 2011 |


Federal regulators ignited a firestorm of controversy recently when they ordered banks located in the North Coast area of California to spy on transactions of customers who are suspected of making money in the marijuana business. In a bid to crack down on California's marijuana industry, regulators have ordered banks to look out for suspicious activity by those running such operations, but that is leaving legal -- under state, but not federal law -- medical marijuana businesses out in the cold.

Although DEA and FBI officials are not specifically targeting medical marijuana, they say they are looking for drug traffickers and money launderers, and they regard any marijuana-related banking activities with suspicion. The banks are not being ordered to not do business with dispensaries, but are instead closing accounts rather than put up with the hassles of investigating and reporting those transactions.

Banks in the North Coast region, including Savings Bank, Wells Fargo, the Exchange Bank, and Ukiah Bank, as well as other financial institutions in the Sacramento and San Joaquin areas are scrambling to comply with the government's order as the feds continue their onslaught against the legal marijuana trade.

The enforcement action is the result of the North Coast's widespread reputation for marijuana production and also includes the arrest of citizens in the area operating legal medical marijuana businesses under California state law. California voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996, legalizing the medical use of marijuana for patients whose doctors have recommended they use it. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/drugs/150306/feds_push_banks_to_spy_on_legal_marijuana_dealers/

[RKP5637]

1. Tax it and put it on the shelf with the booze and recognize this is an innate

part of human nature. Let the black markets, crimes and deaths dry up. This all gets sooooo stupid. Problem is, too many of TPTB are making money off the other side of the coin.

[xchrom]

2. Recommend

[txlibdem]

3. But don't have banks spy on crooked CEOs and overseas tax havens

We need to crack down hard on the little guy trying to make a buck just to put food on the table. But we should never, ever, investigate any of the CEOs or big banks that crashed our economy and effectively stole trillions of dollars. Now we have our priorities right!
:sarcasm:

Hey, government dumb a$$es: Legalize It and Tax It.

[Demeter]

4. And turn a blind eye to the Illegal Drug Trafficking

because that keeps the bank afloat....

[Shallah Kali]

5. Ugland House: Nearly 19,000 companies call this home in the Cayman Islands

[MedicalAdmin]

6. Note to any bank that does this.

I will pull my accounts and by companies accounts from any bank that participates in this. And I'm not alone.