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The Challenges Of Running A Cash-Only Cannabis Business

Chuck Herrera/Pixabay (CC0)

Hear State Treasurer Michael Frerichs discuss the challenges of running a cash-only cannabis business on The 21st.

On just the first day of sales on January 1, legal marijuana in Illinois brought in nearly $3.2 million dollars, with a total of almost $11 million dollars in sales by the end of that week, according to the state.

But while recreational weed is now legal in Illinois, it’s still considered a schedule 1 drug at the federal level. That makes banking a challenge for weed businesses.

State Treasurer Mike Frerichs joinedThe 21st show to talk about the how the state is dealing with the inconsistencies between federal and state law. And to help us get the cannabis industry perspective on all this, we also spoke with Pamela Althoff, former state senator from the 32nd district in Illinois and now the Executive Director of the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois, which represents cannabis cultivation centers and dispensaries across the state.

Copyright 2021 WCBU. To see more, visit WCBU.

Christine Herman spent nine years studying chemistry before she left the bench to report on issues at the intersection of science and society. She started in radio in 2014 as a journalism graduate student at the University of Illinois and a broadcast intern at Radio Health Journal. Christine has been working at WILL since 2015.
Christine Herman
Anna Casey