The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Control Board intends to lift the ban on out-of-state investors financing recreational marijuana producers, processors and retailers as early as March of this year.

Lifting the ban on out-of-state investing will make it easier for marijuana producers, processors and retailers to raise money to start or grow their company.

This fall, the legalization of recreational marijuana is going on the ballot in California.

However, California has no ban on out-of-state investors and, with the possibility of recreational cannabis being legalized, investors could be looking to spend big on America’s most populous and largest medical marijuana producing state.

States that receive revenue from recreational marijuana sales may be making some changes to how they run their investments before California potentially enters the market this fall.

“It’s already expensive to come into the market as a business owner,” said Lena Davidson, sales and marketing manager of botanicaSEATTLE. “Producers are sinking sometimes their life savings into their crop.”

According to Davidson, marijuana is a difficult business to break into.

“You invest heavily in an agricultural crop. It grows, you harvest it, the money’s already been spent. You make your money when you sell that crop,” Davidson said. “Marketing, packaging, distribution: those are expensive things in a big state that is really competitive for bud right now.”

Since recreational marijuana is a new industry, many businesses have had a hard time getting financed since banks refuse their requests for loans.

Many retailers are restricted to relying on a cash only service because of this lack of financial backing.

“The banks won’t knowingly take [money processed off a card,]” Rob Hendrix, owner of Cannabis Central, said. “We had a debit card machine in the beginning, but they shut it down.”

The U.S. Department of Justice has warned states with legalized marijuana on multiple occasions that if drug money starts trading across state lines, the state’s marijuana industries might face a federal crack down.

Marijuana is still against the law federally, meaning the U.S. government could come into the state and shut down all production and retail for the marijuana industry.