[TroutStalker]

Kimberly was at the tax office making a payment of more than $30,000, but officials with the agency, the board of equalization, say that is a relatively small amount. Recently at the San Francisco office, a $400,000 payment came in, carried in "a big bag", said George Runner, a BOE board member. The day before in Sacramento, $150,000 came in as a single payment.

That kind of cash being brought to a non-secure facility raises safety issues, as well as practical ones - issues that the BOE and other agencies are scrambling to address as new medical marijuana laws in the state increase the amount of taxes being paid.

The BOE estimates that last year, it took in about $200m in cash payments from marijuana businesses, though it's "hard to tell" what the actual amount is, since, Runner said, "we don't always know who is a cannabis-related business".

He does know it is leading to some strange problems. The teller windows in the office, for example, do not have slots big enough for the cash-stuffed envelopes to slide through. They will have to be retrofitted to be bigger.

In the meantime, the office staff is forced to come out of their safe rooms to receive payments.

Inside the cash room at the Sacramento office, money is stored in a shiny black safe that looks straight out of the old west, with a large silver spin dial on the front and a gold Betty Boop statue on top. Though about 4ft tall, the safe still sometimes gets stuffed to capacity.

[grey_whiskers]

This is gonna cause problems with drug-sniffing dogs as the money circulates to other states in which marijuana is still illegal.

Gonna make a fun Supreme Court case.

[DoughtyOne]

[RIghtwardHo]

Idiot Feds need to legalize it, or at LEAST let them deposit it and leave legalizing it up to the States.

[The_Victor]

That kind of cash being brought to a non-secure facility raises safety issues,

I'm sure safety is such an overwhelming issue that the state would consider doing with the tax revenue in order protect lives.

[familyop]

Dirty little secret about the issue:

State of Colorado Debt Clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/state-debt-clocks/state-of-colorado-debt-clock.html

States aren’t getting rich from it.

[ßuddaßudd]

And they cant spend it fast enough . .

[Marie]

Because of federal law, no bank can do business with a MM disp.

They are FORCED to be a cash-only business.

Yet they keep their paperwork and install vaults and do everything to make the government happy.

They’re paying their taxes.

Now the gov’t is mad because the money stinks?

Really?

When has the gov’t ever cared about the smell of money?

They’ve got their 30 pieces of silver in the exact way that they demanded. They can shut up about it.

[dainbramaged]

the smell of their inventory clings to everything
Baloney. There are no open containers of my old friend Bud Green at any legal weed shop, including the ones I do business with. There is no odor upon entering. The owners are conservative business folks and they don't throw all the cash into a tote along with the dope. Leaving marijuana out to dry and desiccate, therefore losing it's potency would be a poor business practice and also extremely wasteful - like trying to keep your ice cream in the cupboard.

[Mr. K]

Can’t they use ATM machines?

[terycarl]

why don’t they just deposit it to a personal account and then write a check to their business account????Big deal....