Gun-Toting Robbers Caught On Video Threaten Customers & Workers At WA Cannabis Shop, Marijuana Banking Reform Needed

Robbers were caught on security cameras this past Saturday, holding customers and employees at gunpoint in a Maple Valley, Washington cannabis shop.  

The owner of Goobie's Doobies said the thieves made off with thousands of dollars worth of weed and left her staff and shoppers traumatized.  

"Nobody deserves to be terrified like that," said Tea, Goobie's Doobies owner who did not want to use her last name.

The security video shows the two armed men walking into the shop, locking the door behind them, pulling out a gun and then barking orders to those trapped inside, reported Fox13. 

"They pulled out a gun and forced everyone into the bathroom while they cleaned out the display cases," Tea said. "Our employees, yes, definitely said they feared for their lives." 

The men also took everyone's wallets and car keys. 

When they fled, they stole a customer's car from the parking lot.

Too Much Cash On Hand?

Yes, that is a problem for cannabis shops across the country as they are forced to operate on a cash-only basis as long as marijuana remains federally illegal. All so-called 'plant-touching' cannabis operations are denied access to financial and banking institutions. This untenable situation has resulted in more than 80 armed robberies in Washington state alone, with some ending in death. 

And Washington is not alone. The cannabis dispensary crime wave is spreading to other states where marijuana is legally sold.

Industry leaders concur that the lack of safe banking access for the country’s thousands of cannabis dispensaries is costing lives.

"No one should have to go to work fearing for their lives," Steve Hawkins president of the U.S. Cannabis Council said recently after a previous robbery in Washington State. "Those individuals should not be worried if they will be going home to loved ones at the end of the day."