Marijuana was officially legalized for recreational use inColorado as of Jan. 1 2014, but being that it's still currentlyillegal both federally and in the 49 remaining states, the flow offunds associated with the sale of weed could cause headaches forfinancial institutions. Fortunately, the Department of Justice(DOJ) is expected to offer guidelines to financial institutions ina memo that the Wall Street Journal reportsshould be coming any day. But banks remain nervous that theguidelines do not go far enough to protect them.

Under current federal law, any bank institution caught acceptingdeposits from known drug dealers would be in violation ofmoney-laundering laws. Deposits that are suspect require the bankinvolved to fill out suspicious activity reports. Financial firmsare concerned that similar regulations could be used to charge themwhen dealing with Colorado-basedmarijuana sales.

The memo hopes to clarify the responsibilities of banks andfinancial firms in Colorado. Those close to the draft say that itemphasizes that federal enforcement will first go after marijuanasellers who use legitimate sale in Colorado as a front forother illegal activity, funneling it across state lines, or as partof a larger criminal drug empire, for example. The memo is expectedto run parallel to another document that the DOJ released in 2013,in which it laid out eight prosecution priorities it would maintainas weedlaws loosen across the United States.