Uruguay finds no banks for the bongs
The country's legalization of the cultivation, sale and consumption of marijuana runs afoul of the U.S. Treasury
Bloomberg (US)
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Understated and simpatico, former Uruguayan president Jose Mujica isn't easily rattled. Just don't mess with his reefer. That was the message from Montevideo last week when a state-owned lender, Banco Republica, followed several private banks in shutting down accounts of clients who deposited money from marijuana sales -- a direct blow to the Mujica era's marquee policy of making Uruguay the first country to legalize the smoking, growing and selling of marijuana nationwide. U.S. banks, including their correspondent banks abroad, are therefore banned from dealing in proceeds from the sales or finance of the marijuana business.
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