Over the last few days we’ve been looking at Washington’s latest agricultural crop – legal marijuana. Today in our final installment of our series “First Cut,” we take a look at security on these new farms. Pot grow operations have state-required alarm systems, dozens of cameras and tall fences. But some growers say they aren’t worried about theft and violence. Should they be?
Pot farmer Susy Wilson doesn’t like keys and locks much.
Susy Wilson: “The stupid locks.”
Wilson’s farm is in the Columbia Gorge. She’s not too security driven in her life, but at her pot farm she doesn’t have a choice …
Anna King: “Is he going to be OK?”
Susy Wilson: “Oh yeah, he’s fine.”
… First, there’s the bear-sized German Shepard named Zeus.
Anna King: “Hi, oh you’re awfully big.”
Susy Wilson: “Come, come, come you goofy dog.”
And every window and door here has an alarm. Cameras are everywhere shooting video that can’t be discarded for 45 days. Everyone on the premises must wear a name badge. Wilson says her business partner is a little more concerned with security than she is. So he’s taken extra precautions like...
Susy Wilson: “... a bull horn over there by the door with a big siren on it.”
And that’s not all. Wilson sounds a little frustrated as she describes his big Taser wand.
Susy Wilson: “My feeling is that if people are coming in with guns a blazing then I need to get out. Otherwise, what is it that I have to worry about? Someone crawling over the fence and stealing a bud?”
Wilson, her partners and her spouse underwent state-mandated background checks and had to report their criminal histories dating back to their youth.
Susy Wilson: “I think the Liquor Control Board treats it less legal that the general public does quite frankly.”
The state rules are meticulous. A 16-digit bar code follows the pot from sprout to sale, ensuring that none of it goes out the back door. After it’s packaged, the marijuana must be quarantined for a day before it’s shipped to a buyer. On the road, it must stay in Washington. That means Wilson’s shipments must travel the twisting Washington State Route 14, instead of the speedier I-84 just on the other side of the Columbia River in Oregon. Still, Wilson says she’s hoping her remote, small town location will aid her some. And she adds she’s going to run her pot farm like she has her life -- smart, but without fear.
Susy Wilson: “I moved to the South Pacific for a few years, and did massage therapy. And traveled around Micronesia, and learned to scuba dive…[mumble].”
This woman’s done a lot. But is she being cavalier about this latest adventure? What about gangs, cartels, kids with guns, dishonest employees?
One company has basically built a fortress to protect its pot.
Brendan Kennedy: “We have a 70,000-square-foot warehouse that is surrounded by physical security including barbwire fences.”
That’s Brendan Kennedy. He heads Tilray, which operates one of the world’s largest legal pot grows. But this farm’s not in the U.S. It’s just across the border in British Columbia where it produces weed for Canada’s legal medical marijuana customers. This “fortress” on Vancouver Island doesn’t keep its harvested marijuana in a barn.
Brendan Kennedy: “There is a vault inside of it that’s as sophisticated as any bank vault that you’ve ever seen. We have a security team that’s former RCMP members, Mounties, on staff. We have about 70 high-resolution cameras …[mumble].”
But Kennedy says the sheer volume of pot plays in the farm’s favor too. It’s not like stealing a work of art, or a gold bar …
Brendan Kennedy: “If Seal Team 6 broke into the building and got access to the vault. They’d still need three semi trucks to carry the cannabis away.”
Still, he says Washington’s new growers should pay the most attention to those closest to them -- on the inside.
Brendan Kennedy: “Security starts before you hire someone. So I would spend a lot of time on background checks and reference checks.”
Back across the border in Wenatchee, Washington, the owners of a major indoor grow operation there say they still aren’t too worried about break-ins.
Eric Cooper: “You know, you walk into an operation like this. And for most people it’s really kind of breathtaking. They sort of go ohhhhh. Never seen a grow like that before, especially all indoors.”
Eric Cooper and his daughter Katey Cooper are part owners of Monkey Grass Farms.
Eric Cooper: “You know, over here we still all own guns and we still have dogs. So if the dogs don’t get you, the guns will.”
Katey Cooper: “We don’t have guns here, though. Not on property.”
Eric Cooper: “No, but close by.”
Some growing operations and pot stores are hiring their own security teams. Still, at least for now, there appears to be no obvious need. Over the last five months there’ve only been handful of minor break-ins. One thief got caught after vaulting over a fence and setting off an alarm. Another stole a couple of plants but was soon turned in by a family member for a $500 reward. One thief did get away. The haul though wasn’t too much -- just a couple of energy drinks.
This was the final installment in our series “First Cut.” It’s been a collaboration with the News Tribune in Tacoma. The series editor is Kate Concannon.
