(RepublicanInformer.com)- A poll from the American Bankers Association seems to suggest that a strong majority of Americans believe that banks should be allowed to work with marijuana businesses in states where the drug has been legalized. The poll, released on Tuesday and conducted by Morning Consult, asked Americans two questions.
First, respondents were asked whether they support legal marijuana dispensaries and businesses to have access to normal banking services, including checking accounts and accessing business loans. Some 65% of those respondents said that they support the policy, while only 15% said that they do not support it.
Currently, legal marijuana businesses are unable to access normal banking services, and making payments in dispensaries can often be complicated. For many businesses, customers have to make payments by “withdrawing” cash from the premises, rather than simply making a normal card transaction on their registers.
Respondents were also asked whether they support Congress approving legislation that would give marijuana businesses access to normal banking services and freeing up the banking sector to work with marijuana dispensaries like they do every other kind of business. Some 68% of respondents said that they support Congress passing such a law.
It means that attitudes towards marijuana in the United States may be changing, and that in the states where it is already legal, it could be normalized even further.
The question is…will this move be positive for everyone? It may take drug dealers off the street, but it may also encourage more people to smoke marijuana…
Conservatives are often torn on this policy, and likely will be as more states make marijuana legal and allow businesses to sell the drug.
Rob Nichols, the CEO of the American Banking Association, issued a press release describing how “consumers clearly agree that now is the time to resolve the ongoing conflict between state and federal law so banks can serve legal cannabis and cannabis-related business.”
Read more here.
