Schools Have Less Security Requirements than the Cannabis Industry, This Needs to Change Right Now

Welcome to the secured podcast. I'm, Mike Matranga. Today, we're gonna talk about some of the regulations between the cannabis industry and the K twelve industry and what the differences are in the security space. Today, we have with us Kevin Hill. Kevin, thank you for joining Let me ask you a question. You are, you know, well versed, you're a, a veteran police officer from toll So PD, you're now retired. You've been a director of security for one of the the nation's largest, cannabis distributing companies you've now transitioned over to, in the the K twelve security space with M6 Global. I'd like to ask you, can you tell a little bit about what the differences are between the cannabis industry and the regulations that are required there. And then in K twelve, and kind of what you see as as a as a problem there. Yeah. Absolutely. With with working in the in the cannabis space, over the last four, four and a half years, in, in all of the states that have a, medical or adult use program, you have to each state has their own set of regulations or mandates that, that that secure those facilities, be it, camera systems and attack film on glass, access control and intrusion alarm systems. I, as I made the transition over to start at the, K-twelve space, I, I, I was just kind of amazed that, you know, here you have one program that has state sanctioned, that says you have to have all of these, physical security installations, to protect a plant, to protect, cannabis. And here we are with in the current climate of, you know, all of school shootings and stuff that that we see almost every day on TV. We don't have any of those installations, you know, or those are requirements. So it really took me back a little bit that's like, you know, dispensary has to have all the stuff in, in line, and, in order to operate but a, but a school that has our, our children in it, you know, our most valued thing probably in the United States, that's not a requirement strange. How many parents do you think know there's such a discrepancy between regulations between a cannabis industry or a facility versus a school. I would say next to I mean, unless you're, unless you're working in that, in that cannabis space, you probably wouldn't know that. Right. I mean, people do you think even think about that? Probably not that many. Yeah. Very few. Very few. Because it's safe to say that our government values, or puts more regulations on, or to protect the cannabis industry or cannabis facilities than does America's children? No. It's not I mean, it's not just fair to say. I mean, it's a fact. It's and you can look at the regulations. And Can you tell us what some of the regulations are in the cannabis industry and how they differ from the K twelve space? Well, there, again, you go into your camera system you know, every square inch of a cannabis facility has to be covered. You don't have any type of requirement, you know, most, most school districts that have camera systems, and most do have some fashion of camera systems, but that's an elect you know, that's an elective deal. That's something that they've just chose to do. There's not a mandate that requires that they have to have, you know, access control systems. Often times, we find schools that don't have those. And, all of those things that, and they're in, in the cannabis world that, you know, all of those things are in affected. That's a all matter of keeping the lights on and and and in business. You have inspectors that come in once a year, you know, a surprise inspection thing, we don't have anything like that in any school in the United States. And and I just kind of going from one part of my life and then transitioning the other, I just thought, you know, I just had this epiphany of like, how bizarre is that, you know, that, that no one has said, you know, these little weed shops have to have all of these rules set in place to protect the people that are inside and the product inside, but we don't do the same thing with our children. This is kind of strange to me. So So let me ask you, in the cannabis industry, if you failed to comply with security regulations, what happens? You get a in most states, you get a, you know, it's a tiered, level of discipline, you know, your first defense, you've got a, a time period to come up with a plan of correction and get it fixed. Then it would move up to a fine. And then, you know, ultimately, there gonna pull your license. If you're not playing by the rules and they see that as being an unsafe space, they pull your license can offer. And I think it isn't it safe to say that that we should have the same processes and penalties for those who failed to keep our kids safe? I I would say so. I mean, at least some sort of compliance effort, you know, and not just cannabis, but there's other, you know, you know, businesses and industries in the in in the United States that as a matter of operating, there's a compliance standard that they have to reach. And the fact that we don't have that in, you know, our school systems are, are being victimized, you know, on regular basis. You know, other industries that are heavy into, compliance regulations and mandates, you know, aren't being victimized like schools are, so why aren't we doing it in the school system?