“It makes absolutely no sense that legal businesses are being forced to operate entirely in cash, and it’s dangerous — and sometimes even fatal — for employees behind the register,” Washington Sen.
Although 18 states have legalized the recreational use of marijuana, and 37 allow its medical use, it remains illegal under federal law.
Dozens of cannabis businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area were hit last fall in a wave of attacks that sometimes appeared coordinated.
While dispensaries are frequent targets for robberies, the spate in Washington is helping drive the national conversation about banking change.
In the past few days, police have arrested a 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy in the killing of employee Jordan Brown, 29, at Tacoma’s World of Weed.
Marijuana shops that can afford it have hired private security guards, sometimes at costs of more than $50,000 a month for a round-the-clock detail, said Adan Espino, executive director of the Craft Cannabis Coalition, which represents more than 60 retail stores in Washington.
Mary Mart, a cannabis outlet in Tacoma, hired armed security in March after it was robbed twice in two months — including, police say, by the two teens who days later killed Brown.
The House has passed it half a dozen times with bipartisan support, but it has never passed the Senate, where it has 42 co-sponsors, including nine Republicans.
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