Kimberly Armstrong

The Cincinnati Enquirer

CINCINNATI — Marijuana legalization advocate Cher Neufer queued up at a post office a month ago expecting to mail a T-shirt to a donor.

Instead, the card for her bank account was denied.

A few phone calls later, Neufer discovered that PNC had closed the account for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana's Ohio branch without notice, leaving all seven of its regional chapters without access to money.

Neufer, the organization's director, then approached five banks before finding a Wells Fargo (WFC) branch more than two hours from her hometown of Lodi, Ohio, that would accept NORML's business.

In June, PNC also closed the account of the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project, another marijuana legalization advocacy group.

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"PNC does not comment on customer accounts," said Diane Zappas, director of corporate reputation. “As a federally regulated financial institution, PNC complies with all applicable federal regulations."

Neufer, who founded the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws' Ohio branch in 2001, said she thinks bank officials are afraid of running afoul of the federal government. Since the feds classify marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, people in the cannabis industry cannot use banks without risking government seizure of their assets, even in states where medical and recreational cannabis use has been legalized.

"We understand that — that problem has existed for years — but not with a group that only educates and lobbies to change the laws," Neufer said. "We are not a dispensary, and we do not take money from any of that."

Ohio became the 25th state to legalize medical marijuana in June 2016, and 26 states plus the District of Columbia now have laws legalizing pot in some form. Ohio officials are in the midst of the rule-making process and expects to have medicinal pot sales begin in September 2018.

Recreational marijuana now is legal in eight states — Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Washington — and the District of Columbia.



While it's unusual for bank accounts for advocacy groups to be shut down, several new chapters of NORML have had difficulty getting banking services in states with and without legalized marijuana, National Political Director Justin Strekal said.



"This is something coming from an understandable concern regarding the Trump administration and Attorney General Jeff Sessions' open hostility to marijuana," he said.

It's unclear whether federal law really is forcing bankers' hands when it comes to the marijuana industry, said Taylor West, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association. Medical and recreational use of marijuana still is illegal at the federal level, but federal regulators have not indicated they will pursue banks that serve state-regulated cannabis businesses.

"It's a dangerous precedent to for a bank to shut down someone's account just for the position they advocate," West said.

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Strekal described NORML, a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization, as the "Ralph Nader" of the marijuana industry. It often supports policies that run contrary to "Big Marijuana's" interests, such as lower barriers to entry that would increase competition.

"A lot of businesses won't give us money and very much don't like us," Strekal said.

The Marijuana Policy Project also was able to switch banks, Communications Manager Morgan Fox said. He wouldn't identify the lobbying group's new bank.

Follow Kimberly Armstrong on Twitter: @KimJourn