Marijuana USA

"Colorado lawmakers have approved the world's first financial system for the marijuana industry, a network of uninsured co-operatives designed to give pot businesses a way to access basic banking services.
The plan, approved Wednesday, seeks to move the marijuana industry away from its cash-only roots. Banks routinely reject pot businesses for even basic services such as checking accounts because they fear running afoul of federal law, which considers marijuana and its proceeds illegal.
The result: pot shop owners deal in large amounts of cash, which makes them targets for criminals. Or they try to find ways around the problem, like drenching their proceeds in air freshener to remove the stink of marijuana and try to fool traditional banks into accepting their money.

"This is our main problem: financial services for marijuana businesses," said Senator David Balmer. "We are trying to improvise and come up with something in Colorado to give marijuana business some opportunity, so they do not have to store large amounts of cash."
Colorado became the first state to allow recreational pot sales, which started 1 January Washington state will follow suit, with retail sales expect to start in July.
The US Treasury Department said in February that banks could serve the marijuana industry under certain conditions. With the industry emerging from the underground, states want to track marijuana sales and collect taxes. It's a lot easier to do that when the businesses have bank accounts.
But most banks have shrugged at the Treasury guidelines, calling them too onerous to accept marijuana-related clients. The result is a marijuana industry that still relies largely on cash, a safety risk for operators and a concern for Colorado's pot regulators. (Información procedente de "The Guardian").