No matter where one stands on the legality of marijuana, or whether marijuana businesses should operate in your community, the safety of those businesses and the people who operate them is important.

Without access to banking services, due to the fact that federal law still criminalizes the drug, dispensaries deal almost entirely in cash.

Automatic teller machines in the lobby of marijuana retail establishments allow banks to collect service fees for those who want to withdraw cash to buy the product, but the person on the other side of the counter can’t put that cash back into an account and write checks for wages, rent and other necessities.

This makes them prime targets for robberies, threatening the safety of dispensary employees, customers and the public in general. Last summer, a security guard was killed during an armed robbery of a dispensary in Aurora.

Read more at the Longmont Times-Call