Attorney General Phil Weiser joins bipartisan effort to reform federal cannabis banking laws

July 24, 2025 (DENVER) – Attorney General Phil Weiser today joined a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general in calling on Congress to pass the SAFER Banking Act of 2025.

The coalition submitted a letter to congressional leaders urging passage of the legislation, which would provide legal clarity for banks and financial institutions to serve state-regulated cannabis businesses.

The letter emphasizes that current federal banking restrictions create unnecessary public safety risks by forcing legitimate cannabis businesses to operate primarily in cash. This cash-intensive environment makes employees and customers targets for violent crime while undermining states’ ability to effectively regulate and tax these industries.

“After well over a decade since the first legal recreational cannabis businesses opened in Colorado, many of these legitimate businesses still operate using cash-dependent models,” said Attorney General Weiser. “I’ve been urging Congress to allow cannabis companies to access the commercial banking system for years because of the safety risks many cannabis companies take on simply to do business. This commonsense reform will also make it easier for Colorado to oversee the industry, better protecting consumers, public safety, and public health.”

Nearly 75% of Americans now live in jurisdictions where cannabis has been legalized in some form. Though 21 states currently collect cannabis tax revenues, many state agencies have been turned away by financial institutions when attempting to deposit cannabis-related payments.

The coalition emphasizes that the SAFER Banking Act would not encourage cannabis legalization in states where it is still illegal, nor would the bill change the federal legal status of cannabis. Instead, the legislation creates a targeted safe harbor allowing banks to provide financial services to covered businesses in states that have implemented laws and regulations ensuring accountability in the cannabis industry.

The letter argues that bringing cannabis commerce into the regulated banking system would enable law enforcement; federal, state, and local tax agencies; and cannabis regulators to more effectively monitor cannabis businesses and their transactions. Compliance with tax laws would be simpler and easier to enforce with regulated tracking of funds in the banking system, resulting in higher tax revenues.

The coalition stresses that the legislation is bipartisan and respects both state sovereignty and the current federal status of cannabis. The SAFER Banking Act addresses specific public policy challenges states face due to federal prohibition on banking cannabis-related funds while moving cash from legal cannabis businesses into the highly regulated banking system, where it will be more transparent to state regulators and law enforcement.

In urging Congress to pass the legislation, the attorneys general also highlight the significant economic impact of state-regulated cannabis industries. According to the letter, U.S. legal cannabis retail sales totaled $30.1 billion in 2024, supporting approximately 425,000 jobs nationwide.

Read a copy of the letter submitted today (PDF).

Joining Attorney General Weiser in filing the letter are the attorneys general of the Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia.

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