Rules for the cultivation of medical cannabis, 24-hour camera monitoring, 4-meter-high walls for security

The government has determined in a special decision the security elements that must be applied to protect medical cannabis cultivation areas but also the transportation of raw materials with dedicated vehicles.

The decision published in the Official Gazette has already entered into force, defining in several points the measures that must be taken by licensed entities.

Thus, according to the decision, these areas must be monitored 24/7 with cameras with special specifications.

"The environments must be continuously monitored with a CCTV camera system, equipped with a built-in reader and motion sensors, with a high resolution of at least 1280 x 720, with infrared rays, including the 20-meter space outside the enclosure, which must be illuminated. The film images of the camera system must be stored for at least 90 days on the NRV/server and for at least a 1-year period in Cloud memory, located in one of the EU countries," the decision states.

Likewise, regarding the alarm system, the decision determines that it must be connected at the central and local levels to notify the command or information room at the State Police in case of problems.

The decision also stipulates that the area where the activity is carried out is guarded 24 hours a day without interruption by the entity in charge of physical security and protection, which includes a response service with a signal verification group. In cases where cultivation is carried out in open or protected environments, it is surrounded from the outside by a durable concrete wall with a thickness of at least 25 (twenty-five) cm and a height of 4 m from the ground, on which barbed wire is placed.

Another element is the security gates, which will be made of iron and will only be accessible to persons with access authorization.

The entrance gate is controlled by authorized security personnel, who keep records of every entry and exit of people, vehicles, and goods.

The decision stipulates that the facility security scheme, together with the security procedures, the deployment plan and the safe transportation of cannabis, is prepared by the technical director of the entity in charge of maintaining physical security and is approved by the chief of the Police Commissariat of the jurisdiction where the facility is located and is drafted in 4 (four) original copies, of which 1 (one) copy is made available to the entity, the National Cannabis Control Agency (Agency), the entity in charge of maintaining physical security and the Police Commissariat of the jurisdiction where the facility is located.

The same also focuses on transportation and the security that this process must have, where the first point highlights that the transportation of the plant, its by-products and products must be carried out with closed vehicles that ensure that they are not visible or identifiable from outside the vehicle and must be accompanied by the relevant record of the quantity and type of product being transported.

"The transport of the plant, its by-products and products intended for medical use, produced from the cannabis plant by the licensed producer, must be carried out by means of transport that ensure the preservation of the herb at temperatures neither higher nor lower than what is stated on the labeling or the herbal leaflet," the decision states. The vehicles must be equipped with GPS, while for any movement of the plant or sapling, state structures must be notified 5 days in advance./ monitor