Collegiate Recovery Programs

Collegiate recovery programs are a new concept for me.  I discovered of their existence in 2014. Only about 50 U.S. colleges and universities offer these programs to support college students who are recovering from alcoholism and drug abuse.

If you consider the usual images of college social life, they often focus on heavy drinking and experimentation with illicit drugs.  College can be a tough place for a student in recovery.  Collegiate recovery programs help provide a range of services to assist students in recovery.  Most require a student to have been in recovery for a minimum of 6 months.  Some provide counseling.  Almost all seek to provide social gatherings and academic advising that take the special needs of students in recovery into account.

Georgia offers such programs at Georgia Southern University (with students from East Georgia College also served) and Kennesaw State University with a new effort/program at the University of Georgia.

Election 2014: Marijuana Laws

Recreational Marijuana:  Alaska, the District of Columbia, and Oregon on November 4th became the latest US jurisdictions to legalize recreational marijuana.  The vote in DC, however, must be approved by Congress so it may not go through.

Medical Marijuana:  The US territory of Guam also approved medical marijuana.  The majority of Florida voters did vote to approve medical marijuana in the Sunshine State, but the vote narrowly missed the 60% of votes cast needed to approve medical marijuana in Florida.

Of Marijuana and Money

Currently nineteen states and DC have legalized marijuana for medical uses.  Two more, Colorado and Washington, have gone a step farther and lifted the prohibition on recreational use of marijuana.  Several other states have had ballot measures to legalize marijuana either for medical uses or recreational uses.  The New Hampshire House this month voted to legalize recreational use there.

The legalization of cultivating and selling marijuana, however, creates a number of financial and regulatory issues:

First, Federal laws forbid banks from allowing accounts where marijuana proceeds -even legal ones- would be deposited.  Banks can face Federal racketeering charges.  As a result, pot farmers and dispensaries deal almost completely in cash.  Imagine paying your taxes -in cash.  Imagine paying your employees -in cash.  Imagine paying your vendors -all in cash.  No bank will give you a loan to start your business.  Where are you going to store the thousands of dollars your business brings in daily?  Imagine the security concerns.

From the perspective of the business owners, the ban on banking even legal marijuana money is a huge headache -and a dangerous one with so much cash floating around.

States like Colorado and Washington see big tax dollars in recreational marijuana sales, but the banking problems also make the industry ripe for tax evasion.

The US Justice Department is currently working on new regulations that would open the way for banks to treat marijuana businesses that same as other legal businesses -in those states where marijuana has been legalized.  Several members of Congress, however, have come out opposing the changes.  2014 will likely see a number of new issues and opportunities open for the marijuana industry.