Business
Wells Fargo Forces Steep Hill Alaska Labs to Close
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]T[/dropcap]hanks to Wells Fargo, one of Alaska’s three cannabis testing labs was shut down after the banking behemoth served a foreclosure warning notice to the landlord behind Steep Hill Alaska. That leaves only CannTest and Wasilla, Alaska-based New Frontier Research to take up the slack.
“We are sorry to announce that Steep Hill Alaska will be suspending cannabis testing operations on March 31, 2018,” the lab posted on Instagram. “We have to relocate because Wells Fargo called in the loan on our building. They will foreclose if we do not move out — just because we are a cannabis business!”
Steep Hill Alaska’s landlord, Brian Horner, tried to find another bank to assume the loan, or a third party, to no avail. This forced Horner to evict Steep Hill Alaska.
Immediately after the news broke out on March 29, Sen. Lisa Murkowski tweeted in support of Steep Hill Alaska without mentioning the name of the business. “For states like Alaska that have legalized marijuana,” Murkowski tweeted, “it’s important for law-abiding businesses to have access to safe financial services instead of forcing them to operate in all-cash, increasing a risk of crime and threatening public safety.”
While Alaska state law requires cannabis that is sold in the state to be tested for contaminants and potency, Wells Fargo answers to federal laws. David Kennedy, a spokesman for Wells Fargo in Alaska, told Juneau Empire “It is currently Wells Fargo’s policy not to knowingly bank marijuana businesses, based on federal laws under which the sale and use of marijuana is still illegal.”
Brandon Emmett is a member of Alaska’s Marijuana Control Board predicts that the state’s cannabis industry will remain intact, because CannTest has the capability to absorb Steep Hill Alaska’s workload. New Frontier Research just secured their license on March 14. Steep Hill CEO Brian Coyle quipped that in reality, Wells Fargo “could give a s—about Alaska” since the entire state has less residents than San Francisco.
