Recreational marijuana will soon be legal across Canada after the senate voted to pass the bill earlier this month. This imminent legalization, which is expected to official be October 17, means owners of licensed marijuana facilities need to establish unique security solutions to deter criminals and meet industry regulations.

Earlier this year, Health Canada announced two major changes to the physical security requirements for licensed marijuana producers under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR), which must be respected by licensed producers of cannabis for medical purposes.

The biggest change is that marijuana producers must now maintain a “high-security vault” for the storage of cannabis products, and that areas where cannabis is grown be under constant visual surveillance.

This area must be secured with physical barriers, an intrusion detection system, and 24/7 visual monitoring and recording capability. A record of the identity of every person entering or exiting the storage area must be kept, and access to those areas must be restricted to those whose presence is required by their work responsibilities.

Secondly, licensed producers will no longer be required to maintain 24/7 video surveillance inside the rooms where cannabis is being cultivated, propagated or harvested. However, access points to these rooms still need to be under 24/7 video surveillance, monitoring, and recording.

Licensed producers will need to continue to meet the existing physical security regulations, including:

• perimeter security;
• intrusion detection systems, visual monitoring and recordings, and restricted access and entry and exit logs;
• and strict inventory control measures and regular reporting of cannabis production.

How do marijuana facilities ensure access is restricted?

Managed access control! Moving away from the conventional lock and key, managed access control is a form of keyless entry that allows you to limit certain employees access to specific areas of your facility. This means you will be able to restrict access to the storage area of your marijuana facility, and only allow access to those whose presence is requires as part of their role responsibilities.

As an automated system, managed access control allows you to track which employees enter and leave an area and the time they do so. This means you will be able to accurately record the identity of every person entering and exiting the storage area of your facility.

Install a verified Sonitrol system to protect your facility

Conventional alarm systems have an extremely high false alarm rate, meaning they often don’t do their job and, when they do, the police are often hesitant to send out officers due to the high chance they’ll be wasting their time.

A sonitrol verified security solution, however, will be the right choice for you. Sonitrol Western Canada will create and design a security solution that is designed uniquely for your specific facility, using our advanced verified video and audio monitoring systems that the police respond to.

Our verified SonaVision technology is a remotely monitored video solutions, that is superior to conventional CCTV systems. Sonitrol’s audio and video systems monitor the ambient sounds and activity that occurs in a marijuana facility, using an advanced heat and motion detection system.

When a break-in is attempted the live-feed is watched directly by Sonitrol’s real-time monitoring station, who then alerts the police. Live audio or video streams are sent directly to responding police units so they are aware of exactly what is happening and where in your facility.

Due to Sonitrol’s incredibly low false alarm rate, the average police response time is just 3.5 minutes.

Marijuana productions facilities are a high risk of both theft and armed robbery, but with a marijuana security system that’s uniquely designed for your business you can keep your facility safe. Contact us today to find out more!