After some initial setbacks, the cannabis industry is just now beginning to find its footing and start the meteoric rise proponents of legalization expected before the crop was widely decriminalized. Economists expect the nascent industry to experience a jaw-dropping yearly growth rate of 25% for the next decade, jumping from a valuation of $16.7 billion to over $100 billion by 2030.

This new economic frontier is proving to be just as unruly, lawless, and dangerous as its geographic forebears, however. Criminal activity targeting dispensaries, growing operations and delivery services for the crop are the subject of weekly headlines in every state the industry is growing in, and the violence has escalated dramatically over the past two years.

Cannabis growers and distributors are forced to deal primarily in cash thanks to the legal grey area the industry still operates in. With their product still maintaining a solid price on the black market, this creates the perfect target for opportunistic criminals that are currently running amoc around the nation thanks to a variety of social and economic factors.

While outside criminal elements are difficult enough to deal with, recent cases have indicated a new and unwelcome trend of criminals infiltrating businesses in order to facilitate more successful robberies. One recent case of illegal chicanery in Roxbury, MA stands out for the would-be criminal’s moxy.

The Roxbury resident crafted a false identity in order to get hired at the town’s local dispensary. Once hired, she and her partners in crime faked an armed robbery in which they pretended to hold her up at gunpoint as she directed them to the highest value items in the store. Once the criminals had made off with $27,000 worth of cash and goods, their inside man called the police and reported that she was the victim of a robbery.

Unfortunately for the fake employee, when her burglar buddies had initially botched the timing of the robbery, and she was caught on camera gesturing for them to leave and come back later. 35 minutes later, they dutifully came back into the store, waving their guns around and making a scene before following the infiltrator into the store to loot the good stuff. Despite her best efforts, she was unable to get investigators to ignore her on-screen antics and was quickly arrested.

While the Roxbury dispensary was lucky in their would-be mole’s incompetence, a surprisingly large percentage of all theft targeting dispensaries are committed by employees. The only way to prevent this is proper screening during the hiring process and a well-planned security system that can catch them in the act, as it did in Roxbury.

Proper security systems that are compliant with both local ordinances and insurance policies are shockingly complex, which is why we heavily recommend enlisting the help of the experts for your dispensary security solutions. For coastal California residents, Cannabis Compliant Security Solutions and expertise are synonymous – no other company has the in-depth knowledge of the criminal mind that the company can boast.

If you are a company working as a pioneer in the cannabis industry, you need to protect yourself with the best security plans available. CCSS’s decades of experience in law enforcement working undercover with career criminals gives them the ideal know-how to provide you with an airtight plan.

Cannabis Compliant Security Solutions

(925) 922-1067

The state of California is quickly turning into a dangerous place, with violent crime in nearly every category on the rise and high profile smash-and-grab burglaries turning into a nearly daily occurrence in the state’s major cities. No one, it seems, is safe, with both private citizens and businesses being targeted on the roads, storefronts, and private residences.

One sector that appears to be hit especially hard by this rise in crime is the cannabis industry. A business that once proudly claimed that over 90% of thefts came from employees is now experiencing millions in losses due to burglaries and robberies every month, with signs only pointing to this trend accelerating in the foreseeable future.

The question is, why is this crime wave hitting the cannabis industry so hard in comparison to any other? There are many answers to that question, and even more fingers being pointed at a number of different parties as being the ones culpable.

The financial incentive to target cannabis companies is relatively straightforward: the plant still has significant value on the black market (or streets) and the industry deals primarily in cash thanks to the banking industry’s hesitance to deal with a complicated legal situation. This means dispensaries, transport vehicles, and growing houses filled with both money and an easily moveable product.

Despite this, robberies and burglaries targeting the cannabis industry were fairly rare as recently as a few years ago. This change is indicative of other shifts in the state, with growers and store owners blaming an uncaring police force, law enforcement blaming lenient DA’s decriminalizing retail crime and refusing to prosecute property crime, and politicians blaming one another (as usual).

Whatever the case may be, this spate of (often organized) crime targeting growing operations and distributors is not going away any time soon. In response, many operators in the space are taking things into their own hands and developing more comprehensive cannabis security plans and putting them into action.

This is both a good and a bad thing; it’s good in that these companies are taking greater interest in taking steps to deter crime and protect themselves. It’s bad in that they aren’t experts in the field and live very busy lives, which means that mistakes will almost inevitably be made and be taken advantage of by unscrupulous insurance companies looking for any opportunity to deny a claim.

A better idea is to hire out to a team of experts for your grow house’s or dispensary’s security plan. Firms like Cannabis Compliant Security Solutions work with multimillion dollar firms every day who come chastened after their claims for lost product worth tens to hundreds of thousands were denied due to them missing a minor detail in their security plan.

Don’t let yourself become the next horror story used as an example in a sales pitch by one of these security companies – just call them before you are the victim of a crime and make sure all of your bases are covered. An investment in a good security contractor like Cannabis Compliant Security Solutions can mean you save millions of dollars down the road as California descends into even worse chaos.

Cannabis Compliant Security Solutions

(925) 922-1067