Bankers' Hours: Lending to marijuana industry full of unknowns

How risky, really, is lending to Colorado’s marijuana industry? It depends on whom you talk to, and, whoever it is, you’re not going to come away feeling any better, or worse.

That’s because the unknowns abound, more than in any other business lending, and unknowns are anathema to lenders, as opposed to venture capitalists, who assess what is known, and then bet on it.

Both investor categories are making assumptions about future events, with lenders taking the conservative approach. It’s pretty hard to know what those events might be when you don’t even know the rules of the game.

Pot is legal in Colorado, according to state law. Federal law says it’s illegal. A basic element of American jurisprudence is that federal law trumps a state statute with very few exceptions. (One is in the instance of consumer protective legislation: If state law is more stringent, and thus is assumed...

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