Now that this has happened, someone should challenge the classification of pot as a schedule 1 controlled substance. Legal pot growers can't use the banking system because pot is still a schedule 1 controlled substance. They generally have to deal strictly in cash and have large amounts of cash on their property, which puts their employees at risk. It's based on the outdated notion that pot has no accepted medical use, there's a lack of accepted safety under medical supervision, and it has a high potential for abuse. Sounds like half the prescription pain killers on the market.
A couple problems:
(1) The problem in this case wasn't that the federal statute prohibited gambling; it was that it prohibited states from allowing gambling. That's the exact opposite of the marijuana regulatory problem, in that the feds prohibit individuals but (currently) cannot stop (most) states from implementing state medical marijuana programs per federal spending prohibitions.
(2) Even if marijuana was removed from Schedule I, THC is separately listed as a Schedule I controlled substance. So even if federal law allowed for medical marijuana, you'd have to produce it with no THC. This is the problem with a lot of the "legal" CBD oil--many oils are marketed as "legal" if they contain less than 0.3% THC. That is not accurate at all; "hemp" products may be produced so long as they contain less than 0.3% THC, but recent DEA guidance clarifies that CBD oil is only "legal" if (i) it is produced entirely from the stalks or seeds of the plants (because stalks and seeds of the cannabis sativa plant are not legally "marijuana") and (ii) contains no detectable levels of THC.
(Wooooooooooohoooooooo!!! Thread drift!!!)