Shh. It’s a secret.

Some local medical marijuana businesses have a checking account, but they don’t want to advertise the fact because they fear damaging their relationship with their bank.

Banks don’t want to say if they’ve taken on pot clients to avoid being deluged with new requests.

And pot dispensaries that can’t get an account don’t want people to know where they keep their cash.

Marijuana banking is a conversation some dispensaries and banks still don’t want to have. Recent federal Treasury guidelines seemed to offer some hope for medical and recreational marijuana businesses to get banking services. But it has failed to offer banks the security they want to handle money from companies legal through state law but illegal under federal law.

The problem, said one lawyer, is that the guidelines were poorly written.

The financial industry’s reaction to the government’s attempt to help was disappointing to some local dispensaries. Medical Horticultural Services LLC opened in 2009 and still doesn’t have a bank account, said Joelle Riddle, manager and former La Plata County commissioner.

“We can’t get one being totally upfront with what we’re doing,” Riddle said. “I have little to no patience with all of this because it’s been going on for so long. Those memos coming out was really a false hope and a lot of information that didn’t amount to anything.”

The memo issued by the Justice Department last year and the guidance released by the Treasury Department in February was intended to soothe banks worried about working with legal marijuana businesses that are licensed and regulated while preserving the government’s enforcement power.

Under the Controlled Substances Act, handling money from marijuana purchases puts federally insured banks at risk of drug-racketeering or money-laundering charges. Banks generally have refused to open accounts for marijuana-related businesses, making retailers prime targets for criminals.

The updated direction from the government hasn’t reassured the banking industry, including banks in Durango. One bank employee from First National Bank of Durango declined comment on all aspects of the issue.

Frank Keating, president and CEO of the American Bankers Association, summed up the feeling of many in a statement last month: “While we appreciate the efforts by the Department of Justice and (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network), guidance or regulation doesn’t alter the underlying challenge for banks. As it stands, possession or distribution of marijuana violates federal law, and banks that provide support for those activities face the risk of prosecution and assorted sanctions.”

There’s a disconnect between the intent of the government’s directions to the industry and the way it was worded, said Steve Fox. He heads up government relations work for the Denver law firm Vicente Sederberg LLC. Under banks’ interpretation, they would be responsible for making sure their clients are selling pot in a way that doesn’t clash with federal enforcement priorities, such as selling to minors, leading to drugged driving or taking marijuana across state lines.

“A standard that’s basically impossible for them to meet,” Fox said. “That’s really the issue. That’s why there’s hesitancy from a lot of institutions.”

Fox also lobbies for the National Cannabis Industry Association in Washington, D.C. People there, even those who wrote the guidance, are frustrated, he said.

So is Riddle.

“(It’s) frustrating, dangerous, inconvenient, not good for customers, the list can go on and on and on,” she said. “Bottom line, it was more politicians doing a lot of talk with very little to no action.”

Sometimes getting an account can come down to being in the right place at the right time. Animas Herbal Wellness Center has a bank account, although manager Wes Drobney declined to give the bank’s name. In the more than three years since the dispensary has been open, it went through a few banks before finally finding a stable relationship.

“It just took a lot of legwork,” Drobney said. “We called every bank in the state until we found one that would work with us.”

He said state banks are the best place to start, not national ones. They pay a bit more for the service and keep quiet about having such good luck.

“We’re kind of hush-hush about it,” he said. “Anybody that has a bank doesn’t want to spill the beans on who they’re banking with.”

Fox hopes that other federally insured banks will step up and accept the risk of doing business with pot businesses based on the “intent” of the new guidelines. It’s unlikely revised government guidance is on its way.

“There’s probably little enthusiasm for doing a do-over,” he said.

smueller@durangoherald.com