Guns and Ganja; Robberies on the Rise

On August 7, 2016, employees of Have A Heart Greenwood, a licensed recreational marijuana store in North Seattle, WA, went through what many in the marijuana industry have already experienced; an armed robbery. The footage of the break-in shows the store’s employees zip tied and held at gunpoint while the criminals attempt to rob the store. As the terrified employees stared down the barrel of the criminals’ guns, the store’s manager watched the robbery on the store’s surveillance system and immediately alerted the police. Fortunately, no one was harmed and the police were able to quickly apprehend the criminals before they could get away with any money or merchandise.

Have A Heart Greenwood joins the far too long list of legal marijuana businesses that have suffered armed robberies. Within the last two months, violent criminals have seriously wounded a dispensary security guard in Los Angeles, CA, killed a 24-year-old security guard and father of three at a dispensary in Aurora, CO, and shot a 35-year-old dispensary security guard from San Bernardino, CA in the head. Though none of these incidents are related, the criminals’ motivation in every instance was cannabis cash.

What sets Have A Heart Greenwood apart from the others, however, is that the recreational store is among the nearly 140 licensed marijuana businesses in Washington that rely on PayQwick to drastically reduce their cash dependence. PayQwick facilitates business bank accounts for its users through its compliance assessment programs, which require that, among other things, all users have a robust surveillance system like Have A Heart Greenwood’s. PayQwick then regularly collects cash from its users’ premises with an armored car service. In fact, PayQwick had picked up cash from Have A Heart Greenwood just days before the thwarted robbery.

To further free licensed marijuana businesses from cash, PayQwick allows business users to pay each other through PayQwick’s Business-to-Business platform, which works much like PayPal®. This means that a recreational store like Have A Heart Greenwood can pay a producer, processor or ancillary business, which is also a PayQwick user, with nothing more than the click of a button. If a PayQwick user wants to pay a non-user without cash, no problem! Aside from using the checks that come with their PayQwick facilitated bank accounts, these businesses can use PayQwick’s PayQwick’s Bill Pay option and have PayQwick create and mail a physical check on their behalf to the recipient.

PayQwick also allows consumers to pay at participating retailers like Have A Heart Greenwood with a PayQwick loadable card or the PayQwick smartphone app, so that that consumers can also go cash-free and pay for their marijuana without paying steep ATM fees.

PayQwick’s services have proven that legal marijuana businesses can operate safely and smoothly without relying on cash. Because of PayQwick, marijuana businesses can free themselves from cash; the target that invites violent crime.

Originally published at www.kennethberkeblog.com.