State Attorneys General Urge Congress On Cannabis Banking
July 29, 2025A bipartisan group of attorneys general is urging Congress to pass the SAFER Banking Act, advocating for federal reform to open up the banking system to the industry. In a letter to Congressional leadership the AGs—coming from 32 states across the U.S.—implore Congress to give the cannabis industry access to the same banks and financial guidelines used by other U.S. industries. Framing the need for reform as a public safety issue, the AGs note that 24 states, two territories, and Washington D.C. all allow for adult-use sales and that the industry is growing nationwide.
The attorneys general argue that forcing cannabis businesses out of the traditional banking system creates an increased risk of theft, noting, “when the public is only allowed to conduct business in cash, employees and customers are at greater risk of violent crime in pursuit of that cash.” To remove this danger, the SAFER Banking Act would bring the cannabis industry into the U.S.’s existing regulated banking system.
Beyond public safety, the AGs note that the banking ban has harmed adult-use and medical-only states by limiting their ability to use tax revenues to benefit their citizens. “Numerous state cannabis regulatory agencies have reported they have been turned away by the financial institutions that regularly service those agencies for other needs when the agencies have sought to bank cannabis licensees’ tax and other payments,” say the AGs in the letter.
The group of attorneys general note that the SAFER act does not advocate for legalization or any changes to cannabis’ federal status and merely would allow the legal markets across the U.S. to operate like other state-sanctioned industries.—Shane English
Tagged : blackmarket cannabis, cannabis, SAFER Banking Act
