"Marijuana clinics get boost from Frank; Businesses need banking services, lawmakers say" by Peter Eichenbaum, Bloomberg News | May 25, 2010
NEW YORK - Medical marijuana clinics are lawful businesses and the Treasury Department should set rules that encourage banks to provide financial services, according to 15 members of Congress led by US Representative Barney Frank, a Newton Democrat.
He really is a tool of them.
"Legitimate state-legal businesses are being denied access to banking services, which does not serve the public interest," the lawmakers said in a May 20 letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner that was distributed yesterday by Americans for Safe Access, a patient-advocacy group.
The letter was written by Representative Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat whose state is one of at least 14 that have legalized marijuana for medical use. He asks the Treasury to issue "formal written guidance" assuring banks they won’t be targeted for doing businesses with companies that distribute medical marijuana.
Yeah, when are the federalis going to board that tax train?
Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. are among the US lenders that have stopped opening new accounts for vendors that provide medical marijuana because cannabis consumption and distribution are illegal under federal law.
Hey, the banks without a heart.
Wells Fargo is headquartered in San Francisco, the epicenter of the US pro-marijuana movement. Californians will vote in November on whether to legalize marijuana for recreational use.
Doesn't mean government will listen.
"If states want to make it legal or not, it should be a state matter," Frank said in a telephone interview yesterday. "It's wrong for the banks to be told by Treasury they can't service them the way they would service any other business."
I'm not with him on the bank bit, but....
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Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, signed the letter with 12 Democrats and two Republicans, Representatives Ron Paul of Texas and Dana Rohrabacher of California.
The only decent member of that august body.
Well, maybe a handful of others, that's about it.
Frank and Paul are cosponsors of a bill that would repeal the federal law that makes marijuana use a crime and let states decide whether to legalize it. States that do so then would be able to collect sales tax on marijuana, Frank said....
Hey, fine.
Then everybody is happy (cough, cough, cough)!!
Related: Barney Frank Stabs Ron Paul in the Back
Yeah, don't turn your back on him when you are smoking a joint with him.
Also see: Boston Globe Censored Briefs: Barney Frank Exhales Fart Mist
Yeah, it is okay for him to smoke and lie about it -- and then the Globe sprays some room freshener for him.
More:
The aim is “complete transparency’’ from the Fed, Representative Barney Frank said. (Win Mcnamee/Getty Images)."
Yeah, he must be high if he isn't noticing a certain cleavage.
