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berke banks
Recovery poses different challenges for the growers. Because affairs marijuana violates federal law, alike back it's accustomed by alone states, best farms abridgement able allowance and won't authorize for federal aid.
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Now an attack to crowdfund money online for farmers in Sonoma and Mendocino counties has been shut bottomward by acquittal provider WePay.
To advice the families and businesses impacted by the fires, Hezekiah Allen, controlling administrator of the California Growers Association, set up an online fundraiser.
He acclimated claimed crowdfunding armpit YouCaring and set a ambition of $25,000. He managed to accession added than $13,000 afore the armpit abeyant the fundraiser on Monday and began refunding donations.
YouCaring said fundraising for marijuana-related purposes isn't accustomed by its acquittal providers, WePay and PayPal.
"Our acquittal providers are clumsy to action payments affiliated to the assembly or auction of cannabis (including CBD oil), alike in situations area such payments would be acceptable beneath Accompaniment Law," said YouCaring's Camelia Gendreau in a statement.
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Because it's actionable on the federal level, processing payments accompanying to marijuana is technically advised money laundering.
"We accept no added choice," said WePay's Jeremy Milk.
WePay, which was administration the donations for Allen's fundraiser, says it cannot action any payments accompanying to the biologic because of federal law, government notices, and requirements from its coffer and acclaim agenda partners. (The aggregation is currently in the action of actuality acquired by JPMorgan Chase.)
Related: Marijuana farms are afire in California wildfires
In states area marijuana is legal, the industry has struggled with how to assignment with acceptable cyberbanking institutions. However it is possible.
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The Justice Department ahead directed federal prosecutors not to go afterwards marijuana businesses acknowledging with accompaniment laws. The aggregation can't be associated with crimes that are a aerial antecedence for the government, like affairs to minors, application federal acreage to grow, use of firearms, or alteration beyond accompaniment lines.
The U.S. Cyberbanking Crimes Enforcement Network, accepted as FinCEN, additionally advised in with its own guidelines accurately for cyberbanking services. Banks can handle marijuana money, but they accept to jump through added hoops. They charge apperceive who their barter are and verify that they're operating according to accompaniment law and not breaking the big federal laws. The banks charge additionally book action letters for any marijuana accompanying transactions.
It would be difficult to accommodated all the requirements on a crowdfunding attack with assorted alien recipients and donors.
"It's actual tough. I apperceive some marijuana companies accept approved to accession money for their own businesses through crowdfunding and Kickstarting with bound success," said Ken Berke, co-founder of PayQwick, a cyberbanking casework aggregation that specializes in cyberbanking and acquiescence for marijuana companies. "Unfortunately, we don't see a lot of ameliorate advancing from the federal government for a continued time."
Recreational marijuana is acknowledged in seven states and medical marijuana is accustomed in 29 states. However, it is still classified as a Schedule I biologic actuality by the federal government, alongside cocaine, heroin and LSD.
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The growers whose crops austere bottomward were gearing up for January 1, back recreational marijuana food accessible beyond California. Marijuana was a $2.8 billion industry in the accompaniment in 2016 and it's accepted to abound to $6.5 billion by 2020, according to The Arcview Group.
Since the law paving the way for abounding amends was anesthetized added than a year ago, farmers accept been advance heavily in their crops and the assorted permits and requirements all-important to attain acknowledged status.
Now afflicted growers will accept to acquisition added means to awning their losses. WePay did point to a abeyant workaround for approaching fundraisers.
"We can process payments for campaigns to abutment victims of the Northern California fires, but not to abutment victims' cannabis crops," said Milk.
CNNMoney's Aaron Smith contributed reporting.
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CNNMoney (San Francisco) First appear October 21, 2017: 1:03 PM ET
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