Is Congress Set to Open U.S. Banks to Drug Cartels?
Garth Van Meter
Politics, Americas
Should we let them?
Last month, the House of Representatives passed a bill known as the SAFE Banking Act, a seemingly innocuous bill offering the nascent, state-legal marijuana industry access to banks. Interestingly, many House Republicans who claim to oppose marijuana legalization voted in support of the bill. Some claimed the bill was a vote in support of the conservative principle of federalism. Others cited the inclusion of an amendment seeking to prevent a resurgence of Operation Choke Point, a controversial initiative that discouraged banks from doing business with firearms dealers. Whatever their excuse may be, some House Republicans were hoodwinked in supporting this policy, and drug traffickers and cartel bosses naturally rejoiced. Senate Republicans should be wary of repeating the House’s mistake and potentially enriching criminal syndicates and cartels. In states that have legalized the possession, use, and commercial sale of marijuana, black markets are raging. False promises of an eradication of the underground market for pot have been unmasked by the reality of more illegal activity, including exporting marijuana to non-legal states. More concerningly, criminal gangs and foreign cartels are using the state-legal status of marijuana as a cover for running massive grow operations in housing developments and on federal lands. In April of 2018, authorities in California raided 74 houses in the Sacramento area they claim were purchased by a Chinese crime syndicate. What’s more, these organized crime groups were found to be staffing these grow houses using human trafficking and indentured servitude. According to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, illegal grows in Northern California are “getting worse, not better.”