‘It’s hemp.. not drugs:’ A bank is closing Missouri CBD shop’s accounts, owner says
Emily Christianson sells products made from hemp in her store, but now she says her bank is closing her CBD store’s accounts due to the nature of her shop.
Christianson owns CBD of Springfield and posted a photo of a letter she said she received from Great Southern Bank. The letter — with a subject line reading “Deposit account closures (My CBD Clinic LLC)” — states that “it is in the best interest” of the bank to close her accounts because of “elevated risk” associated with a “marijuana related business.”
“As a result, please accept this notice of our intent to close your deposit accounts ... on September 24,” the letter states.
Christianson said in a message to The Eagle that the bank hand-delivered the letter to one of her employees on Aug. 10.
“Coming into my store and discussing my private account with my employee while I had several customers in store was very frustrating,” she said.
But that’s not her only concern with Great Southern Bank.
“The struggle is so real,” she wrote on Facebook. “It’s a nonstop fight. 9 months of a flawless banking record and you get hand delivered a letter like this. We will prevail and NEVER stop the battle.”
Christianson told The Eagle she is frustrated because her business was never a secret to the bank.
“They knew exactly what we sold when we opened our account,” she said. “We were not trying to hide anything.”
She’s also frustrated the bank called the shop a “marijuana related business.”
That’s because what Christianson sells isn’t derived from the marijuana plant that can get you high.
“It’s hemp.. not drugs,” she wrote on Facebook. “Great Southern Bank doesn’t agree with us obviously.”
Christianson said the CBD oil her Missouri-based shop sells contains less than 0.03 percent THC, which is the active compound in marijuana, according to a March Springfield News-Leader report.
In Missouri, industrial hemp is not considered marijuana or a controlled substance as long as it contains no more than 0.3 percent THC, according to House Bill 2034.
Christianson said “you couldn’t get high in my store if you wanted to,” the News-Leader reported Wednesday.
“Cannabidiol (CBD) doesn’t make you high because it acts on different parts of the nervous system than THC,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
In a statement to McClatchy, Great Southern Bank said it cannot speak about the specific “customer relationship,” but it said the bank doesn’t take a stance on “marijuana-related products.”
“We understand the frustration this issue causes when state laws and federal laws are not consistent,” the statement said. “The issue of marijuana-related products is challenging for federally regulated banks across the country.”
Christianson told The Eagle she has no plans to protest the bank’s decision.
“I’ve had several customers message me that they have already went and closed their accounts,” she said. “I don’t want to do business with a company who does not believe in this product.”