Valkyrie eyes expansion ahead of marijuana commercialization

WASILLA — Larry Clark is determined to provide marijuana businesses across the state with security services.

Clark, retired law enforcement and President/CEO of Valkyrie Security and Asset Protection Inc., previously worked in corrections and rehabilitation in Ohio and as police in northern Texas, where he said he was trained as both a patrol and drug interdiction officer. He performed drug traffic stops on the Interstate, as well as buy-bust operations. Clark recounts being shot and stabbed, but says that he doesn’t associate that with being in the narcotics department, instead he said, it as an inherent part of his service.

In general, the consensus of his Texas unit was that the war on drugs was a losing battle, Clark said. In an effort to eliminate the black market, he said thinks recognizing marijuana commerce is the key, but that overregulation and over-taxation would adversely result in an underground economy.

The mindset makes Clark willing to work with cannabis businesses: he cites extensive background research as his reason for entering the industry. After contact with security firms that work alongside cannabis companies in other states and evaluations of the market value, the choice was simply a no-brainer, he said.

“Let’s do this — it’s money,” Clark recalls thinking.

He estimates that they are subscribing to an industry valued at more than $200 billion per year, and that his company’s profits will range in the millions.

That profit stems from the integral part that security plays in the marijuana commerce. Surveillance and protection is important to a few different facets of the business, including growing operations, transportation and banking.

Valkyrie’s business model will offer protection for crops at cultivation centers, for processed marijuana as it is transported to and from dispensaries, and also as security for marijuana businesses money storage. Federally regulated banks won’t accept accounts that are tied to the substance in any way, because the federal government still considers marijuana illegal, Clark said.

That makes protection firms like Valkyrie the next best option.

“Somebody has to guard that money; that’s going to be us,” Clark said.

Valkyrie also intends to help with regulation in addition to security.

Valkyrie will obviously keep minors from entering dispensaries and marijuana-related events — they performed that function at the Alaska Cannabis Classic in Anchorage two weeks ago — but will also mediate between businesses and the government in terms of standards.

In order to maintain its own security license, Clark’s company will only work with government-recognized enterprises, he said. Valkyrie can also perform security audits, providing reports to regulation officials on multiple types of compliance.

“My company is here for both sides,” Clark said.

Clark also plans to communicate with law enforcement, officials and municipality leaders, providing transparency for every step of his operation.

“By keeping those channels open we’re bridging the gap between the government and marijuana industry,” he said.

In fact Valkyrie, may be one of few bridges. It’s the only security company in the state that’s willing to work in the cannabis market, Clark said. This has had a positive effect on Valkyrie’s growth. Clark is eyeing expansion in Washington and Oregon — so that his firm can travel with the Cannabis Classic to those states — but he is also shopping for business locations in Juneau and Fairbanks. That search started after potential businesses in those locations made contact with Clark, requesting quotes for Valkyrie’s services.

Clark said he has never tried marijuana himself, and he requires his employees to pass drug tests every six months.

“This is a business just like any other,” Clark said.

The company plans to be “the go-to security company in the state,” he said.

Contact Kaden Weaver at 352-2270 or kaden.weaver@frontiersman.com.