Quote from: Viceroy on July 09, 2014, 01:20:37 PM

Actually your interpretation is all wrong. RiverRock and 500 other dispensaries in Colorado are exercising their right to civil disobedience. Further, the Govenor of the state CONDONES this activity. Further, the Department of Justice has SPECIFICALLY stated through a letter penned by David Cole that they will not interfere in our state regulated industry. Further, the Republican led house recently voted to de-fund the DEA in all states where medical marijuana is legal. Further, banks DO accept the accounts (per news releases linked to in this thread), there are several companies implementing token based systems using ATM machines and there is an effort within Colorado to provide co-op's as banks.

The seed dealers and weed mailers, on the other hand, are following no known law nor are they working within any type of government program or any type of regulating system. These people, the outsiders, are what we insiders CONTINUE to call drug dealers. In Colorado we follow laws and regulations.... this isn't some game. RiverRock is NOT a criminal entity.

By your logic, a business which pays local and state taxes, while not paying federal taxes, may be legal.
WRONG! Even if the tax department sends you a letter which states "we won't bother you", it does not exempt you from existing tax rules/laws.
In general, a simple letter from an authority is not sufficient to legally exempt the recipient of that letter from existing laws.
Reason why the US department of justice does not interfere in Colorado marijuana businesses is because the attorney general was appointed by Pres. Obama who has instructed his subordinates to not interfere or reduce interference with illegal marijuana businesses. If marijuana dispensaries obtained all US, state, and local permits and obeyed the terms of those permits, there would be little or no debate about legal issues. There would be no risk of interference from federal authorities.

If US congress would remove Cannabis from the controlled substance act, then you could legitimately argue that US marijuana businesses are not legally required to obtain a US permit.
However, that has not happened. At the US federal level, all that has happened is a momentary change in enforcement, not a fundamental change in legality.

Currently only a very small number of high risk banks are openly accepting marijuana businesses. If state-regulated marijuana business were 100% legal, then all or almost all US banks would accept such businesses. There are many entities in the US, such as hospitals, which work with controlled substances. The difference between a hospital and a marijuana dispensary is that hospitals comply with all laws while, in general, dispensaries do not. I never heard of a hospital which had problems opening a bank account because it prescribes and/or dispenses controlled substances. Why? because, in general, hospitals normally comply with the US controlled substance act.

What do you know about cannabis laws in Canada?
Seems to me, both of us are ignorant about Canadian cannabis laws, yet you are so certain laws are violated.
Even though I know little about Canadian cannabis laws, my observation is the situation is similar to Colorado and Washington, which is, there seems to be a lack of law enforcement.

When you claim that Canadian cannabis merchants are violating laws, you ought to cite exactly which laws are being violated.
When you claim that a list of cannabis merchants are a cartel, you ought to explain why. At least define "cartel".