An often overlooked aspect of brick-and-mortar cannabis companies is the humble proposal of making your business’s facility as secure as possible. Think about it, there are likely far more glitzy considerations for a business owner to contemplate: marketing slogans, design and packaging, clever social media campaigns, all the way down to critical issues such as lab testing and company payroll. Security, it would seem, is treated much like good health, with often both only noticed once gone.

But with more and more plant-touching businesses emerging in California and beyond, and with the inconvenience and risk of being in a cash-based industry, taking the care and time to examine the best ways to secure your business is paramount to ensuring your company’s success and safety in the near and long term. One thing to be aware of for L.A.-based businesses: Depending on where your office and facility are located, you may be subject to interesting restrictions when it comes to superficial and structural security measures due to “beauty statutes” that prohibit bars or grates on windows, barbed wire fencing, and other deterrent features. With that in mind, we spoke recently with Ryan Schonfeld, president of RAS Consulting and Investigations. Schonfeld, a security expert with a policing background, works with many clients in the plant-touching business. Here are a few cannabis-specific security pointers from our recent conversation:

MMLG: What’s one thing most new business owners in the plant-touching industry don’t fully grasp about security?

Ryan Schonfeld: In addition to being required, a comprehensive approach to security is critical to protecting your people, business, and investment. Installing a few cameras and new doors does little to improve your overall security posture. The cannabis industry is complex, and banking challenges naturally add additional risk when designing a security program.

MMLG: With some of the aesthetic measures in place by local authorities, what are some of the more utility-minded security solutions that you recommend to clients?

Ryan Schonfeld: Because some jurisdictions have limited the types of physical and more traditional methods of restricting access into a building such as bars, bollards, fence spears, etc. in favor of aesthetics, leveraging layers becomes significantly more important to both deterring and delaying a bad actor.

Another thing? Unless your business is specifically targeted, most criminals are opportunistic. Make your business a less attractive target than your neighbors and competitors.

MMLG: Beyond the beauty statutes, what are some other practical considerations for a security program?

Ryan Schonfeld: A good security program includes strong cash management, processes for product movement and storage, inventory management, personnel training, and more. A comprehensive security program is not limited to technology or locks. In hardening your building, don’t forget about one of the biggest threats facing any business today: cybersecurity. Select products and vendors that are cyber-conscious and cyber-hardened. The majority of cannabis businesses that we visit have installed low-cost systems with known, documented cyber vulnerabilities.

MMLG: That’s interesting. What should clients be looking for with cybersecurity in mind?

Ryan Schonfeld: The regulations are more complex than they may seem at face value. Technology compliance should include storage/bandwidth calculations, scaled field of view calculations, cloud vs physical storage discussions, single site versus multiple, infrastructure and scalability, system integrations to improve efficiency and business intelligence. To meet the regulations, security systems are extremely expensive, so why not leverage those systems to help gain a return on your investment.

Have questions about your business’s security program? Contact RAS or MMLG, and we will help to ensure that your business is as secure as possible.