Durango’s marijuana shops are stepping up their security precautions after Rocky Mountain High was robbed last weekend.

Retail stores and medical dispensaries are investing in additional cameras and panic buttons along with staff training.

Security concerns have long surrounded pot shops because many accept only cash payments. The worries were heightened after a robbery at Rocky Mountain High, where an armed man escaped with about $3,000 in cash after tying up employees on Jan. 31.

Logan Griffith, 19, of Durango and his father, Joe Griffith, 44, were arrested in connection with the incident and face several charges.

All Colorado pot shops have security cameras as required by state regulations. The Marijuana Enforcement Division requires cameras at each point of sale, everywhere marijuana products are displayed and all areas where marijuana is weighed, packaged or prepared, among other requirements.

The agency also mandates commercial-grade door locks and security alarm systems.

At Durango Organics, the shop has more video cameras than required, and panic buttons are located throughout the business, co-owner Jonny Radding said.

While last weekend’s incident wasn’t the first robbery of a Durango marijuana shop, it was perhaps the most brazen.

“I am concerned,” Radding said. “It’s a negative spotlight for the industry.”

In August, two young men walked into Animas Herbal Wellness and fired pepper spray at an employee before grabbing a jar of marijuana and fleeing, according to police.

Two 17-year-olds were arrested and charged with felony aggravated robbery.

Some marijuana businesses are working work closely with police. Santé Alternative Wellness has scheduled a staff training session with the Durango Police Department on how to react in emergencies.

“The police and us are cooperating with one another to make the dispensary as safe as possible,” said Tim Baker, manager at Santé.

Durango police have expressed concern about the large amounts of cash on hand at marijuana shops.

“The public safety concern of ours right now is the cash transactions that happen because it’s an enticement for people,” Lt. Ray Shupe, a spokesman for the department, said in January.

The cash-on-hand problem stems from inadequate access to traditional banking. Most banks, which are tightly regulated by the federal government, refuse to work with Colorado’s marijuana businesses while pot remains illegal under federal law.

As a result, marijuana shops often end up with large amounts of cash stuffed in safes.

There are exceptions. Durango Organics has a bank account, Radding said. The account allows the shop to process checks and credit-card transactions and enables employees to be paid by check or direct deposit.

Radding said the bank is aware of his line of work, but he declined to identify the institution. Durango Organics pays a premium for the bank’s trouble, which involves extra scrutiny, he said.

“There are banks out there like the one we’re working with that are going to charge operating fees in order to manage the account,” he said. “They do this to make sure the business is not involved in any unsavory business transactions.”

Even though Durango Organics has a bank account, it often deals with other marijuana businesses that do not. That means cash remains a necessity.

Transporting cash or marijuana products presents another obstacle. Many marijuana businesses use armored cars or armed couriers.

Radding said bankers will have an increasing financial incentive to work with marijuana businesses as more states consider legalizing medical and retail marijuana. Eventually, he believes, banks will go along.

For now, Durango’s marijuana businesses hope to avoid attracting opportunistic thieves.

“We hope Durango doesn’t become a situation like Denver where you have to have security guards out front,” Radding said. “We’re not that type of community.”

cslothower@durangoherald.com

Congress in limbo on bill addressing marijuana banking

Leaving an excess amount of cash on site heightens the security risk for a company. Logically, most businesses take most of their cash to a bank, which safeguards their assets from thieves.

But marijuana shops in Colorado, which legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, have to do business differently because it remains illegal to manufacture, distribute or dispense the drug under the federal Controlled Substances Act.

Few, if any, banks will allow the industry’s businesses to open accounts or receive loans because of the fear of federal prosecution. Colorado pot shops have to rely on safes to guard their stockpiles of cash.

So far, Congress has not made progress in easing the burden for those trying to break into the newly state-legalized industry.

Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., and Denny Heck, D-Wash., introduced the Marijuana Business Access to Banking Act in 2013, which would allow banks, credit unions and other depository institutions the legal clearance to provide banking services to a marijuana-related legitimate business, ensuring these businesses do not have to operate on a cash-only basis.

The bill, however, died before making it to a vote.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice appeared to look the other way on marijuana banking in August 2013, when a memo from then Deputy Attorney General James Cole directed prosecutors to “address the most significant threats in the most effective, consistent and rational way.”

The memo defined eight guidelines for enforcement priorities, including the distribution of marijuana to minors and the revenue or sale of the drug from going to criminal enterprises, gangs and cartels.

The memo did not discuss the possibility of banks engaging with pot businesses, which may imply that the federal government would exercise prosecutorial discretion on the matter, due to limited resources.

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said he’s working with Fourth Corner Credit Union in Denver and the state of Colorado to help them work through the application process with the Federal Reserve. The credit union wants to serve the cannabis industry.

While the federal government may be looking the other way with discretion, the decision not to prosecute does not legalize the bank’s action of engaging with pot businesses. They would still be taking a risk by agreeing to open accounts and giving loans.

Unless Congress amends the Controlled Substances Act or passes a new law, the pot industry remains vulnerable to theft, making it difficult to become a staple of the marketplace.

Michael Cipriano is a student at American University in Washington, D.C., and an intern for The Durango Herald.