As a professional that takes pride in rarely being sick, you are better off visiting an Urgent Care walk-in clinic rather than the Emergency Room (ER) at a hospital. At the walk-in, you’d get fast service, and the visit is potentially less expensive. According to a Business Insider article, walk-ins visits are more convenient and affordable than a trip to the ER. Going to see a healthcare provider is a shakedown of your authority. They frame the questions to show control, and you respond. An ER clinician might be the overtired Doctor, while at the walk-in clinician is an energetic Physician’s Assistant (PA). Although a PA always works in conjunction with a Doctor, their clinical observations and interaction with patients are the same. And she asks one question in a non-authoritative way, and her voice is subtle as if she is holding a secret that is helping you get away with a crime — Do you need a note for work? At that moment you realize that there are people in the world who don’t like their job and would say yes. But as a business professional engaged with your current project — you work from home when sick because there are always tasks ready for completion. There is no need for a sick note when you are raising capital for your project or business, especially a cannabis business.
Since 2008 Bank of America (BofA) has shut down about 2% of its branches every year, cutting off nearly 2000 retail locations in total. On the inverse, their mobile bank usage has grown over ten percent a year since 2017. BofA is not the only business turning way from the old retail model, department stores such as Macy’s, JC Penny, and Sears have been feeling the raft of new-age customer experience, where retail sales have declined for over a decade. The digital age and the internet of things are demanding new experiences for consumers and patients in healthcare settings alike. Healthcare information systems will flourish in smaller, distributed networks like walk-in clinics, outpacing larger, antiquated systems that fall under the bureaucratic hospital setting. How do retail banking and healthcare clinics relate to cannabis, you might ask? You now have access to quicker and less expensive healthcare service while also having access to more weed. Better healthcare, better pot, better life. Marijuana prices are higher in retail dispensaries compared to the traditional unregulated market because dispensaries take massive investment and are an economic growth opportunity for communities around the country.
Across the nation since 2014, nearly 500 walk-in clinics open per year according to Consumer Reports. And across the country, the stigma of weed smoke is changing — Americans want to legalize and tax the transactions. Banks want to be able to do business with dispensaries, but they all fear the federal government. Much like the urgent care providing for the needs of the patient with a convenient experience, credit unions, and local banks are willing to play in the “grey areas” of cannabis banking by holding the cash flow and revenue dollars of dispensaries. Currently, most banks don’t want to lend you money to break the law; they only want to keep the cash after you violate the law. The first local bank that plays the odds of the current funding gap will reap rewards. As more states govern the sales of medical and recreational marijuana, the restriction for banks lending money will inevitably loosen up. When banks start to work with cannabis businesses openly, weed prices in retail shops will reduce while convenience and improved experience will retain cannabis patients and customers.
