Beyond this, Colorado made another legalization last year, and was the very first state to do so. Though the legalization is reliant upon a federal approval for a drug, or a full-scale legalization measure; Colorado legalized MDMA for medical purposes. This goes into effect immediately upon federal passage. Not only is this useful in what it offers medically; but the process to pass the bill was quite interesting as well. Mainly because it literally flew through congress in a matter of a couple months, with practically no edits.

And now, Colorado is among the first to allow online sales, even if its not a completely out-of-store experience. It sets the groundwork for an industry which uses credit/debit cards and bank transfers; and isn’t reliant solely on cash. Missouri also began the process of dealing with banking issues; however its new policy falls short of overall useful legal changes, and comes with some unsettling requirements; like fingerprinting anyone in the industry, down to volunteers.

Why its good that Colorado will allow online weed sales

If you didn’t know anything about the cannabis industry, it might sound silly to get excited over Colorado allowing online weed sales that still necessitate a trip to the dispensary. The reason its an improvement is because of all the banking roadblocks in the US when it comes to any cannabis plant-touching industry. ‘Plant-touching’ involves businesses directly working with the plant (like cultivators and dispensaries); but isn’t limited in how far it can go, sometimes affecting people indirectly. Like a person renting a property to a business involved in cannabis.

The US government hasn’t officially changed its stance on weed. Even with a sweeping pardon late last year by Biden; people still get arrested for ‘crimes’ as small as possession of personal use amounts. This matters because all banks, insurance institutions, and credit agencies are under some amount of federal regulation, and this means it breaks federal laws for them to work for companies that the federal government sees as illegal; like cannabis companies.

You’ve probably noticed by now that in America, if you want to have yourself a little dispensary visit, you must pull out cash at an ATM. And most have an ATM inside to make this a smoother situation. You’ve probably noticed that none gave you the ability to pay by credit or debit card. That’s because they fundamentally can’t. There are a few exceptions here and there, particularly with debit cards and third party paying options; but this is very much here and there.

Is it disrespectful and passive-aggressive for the federal government to still put up so many obstacles in an industry that is legal by state law? Let’s remember it used to go after sick patients and steal medicine from dispensaries. One of the reasons for dispensaries to not have cash on hand is because the federal government still takes every chance it can to raid them, under whatever pretense it has. Blocking banking access is way less ‘ugly’ than messing with the sick; but contextually the same thing.