Marijuana Dispensaries Are Literally Washing Their Money Before They Deposit It At Banks

We all know about money laundering, but what about literally washing your money in the motherf*cking laundry?

According to a report from The Guardian, marijuana dispensaries are doing just that in an attempt to get rid of the potent cannabis odors that get into the bills before they deposit the cash into banks. The Guardian reports,

Sometimes, instead of the aroma of cannabis, the room smells strongly of fabric softener because some depositors 'wash' the money in a dryer before coming in.

Federal regulations do not allow dispensaries to use checks or credit cards for their transactions, which is the reason you can only pay cash at dispensaries.

What this means is that tax collecting agencies in medical marijuana states have what is known as a "cash day" where the Board Of Equalization accepts payments from cash-only businesses.

For the most part, that's medical marijuana business.

But with deposits ranging into the the six figures, dispensaries are now worried that they are at risk while carrying around so much cash.

An estimated $200 million in cash was deposited from marijuana businesses in 2015 alone and people like Kimberly, who works at a Sacramento dispensary, do not feel safe. She told The Guardian,

We’ve been a cash industry for ever and it has been quite a problem. We don’t want to drive around town paying our bills in cash. We want to be able to just go to the bank.

It's definitely very sketchy for business owners to be responsible for such vast amounts of cash (without getting paranoid) but I guess the only upside is having your money smell like amazing fabric softener. The banks have to love that.