Bitcoin can be useful for medical marijuana dispensaries in the USA, still mostly unbanked, which suffer from overwhelming amounts of cash used as the only means of payment.

Large sums of money are being kept in cash in the vaults of USA legal dispensaries of medical marijuana, disposing them to the risk of robbery and tempting the employees, reads a recent article by CryptoCoinsNews (CCN). The inconvenience, though, cannot be removed by using conventional electronic means of payment.

The reason is in the ambivalent legislative framework regarding cannabis. While some states have decriminalised and legalised it, the Federal Government still maintains a strict attitude. As a result, dispensaries and businesses directly dealing with marijuana for medical use cannot write checks, accept credit card payments and deposit money into financial institutions.

Bitcoin seems to be the solution to this problem, as the cryptocurrency depends on no central authority, therefore, there is no reason why the central government should interfere with the payment operations of the dispensaries (providing that marijuana is legalised in the given state).

This move, though, would require a lot of education. More people should learn about bitcoin to make it possible. But the task will become more feasible if these dispensaries grow into social infrastructure nodes (with a café, a small restaurant etc.) where people will have other reasons to come than just to buy some cannabis.

Of the 50 states, there are four so far where marijuana is legalised and 16 more where it is decriminalised. The latter means that keeping and using it is considered a misdemeanour but doesn’t imply a prison term penalty. In 23 states medical marijuana is legal, which makes it possible to arrange dispensaries.

The Federal Law conflicts with the state law in the states where marijuana is legal. Therefore, the business only remains legit as long as marijuana is grown, sold and used within the state.

Andrew Levich