Weed business might be creating financial black market locally

City officials said legal cannabis might create an illegal financial industry.

Calexico city officials said the legal cannabis business might create a financial black market since cultivators and distributors cannot legally do banking business with their money. This will mean loss of sales tax dollars in one way. City officials said they will make their money by charging for cultivating space. They say they’re not able to keep track of sales because they think people in the cannabis industry may be already setting up an underground financial system to handle their investments and profits.

Cannabis is legal statewide, but it’s still illegal at federal level.

Council Member Bill Hodge said, “We are very aware of the problems of them, meaning the entrepreneurs, having to deal with money. Believe it or not, it forces them to do some strange things. Unfortunately, they can’t use the bank because that’s on a federal level and it’s against the law.”

Calexico officials said they have five applications to grow cannabis locally. They are being processed. No permits have been given, yet.

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