From social consumption and social equity to those lying prohibitionist bastards
I wrote a very complicated piece back in September connecting several pressing Massachusetts marijuana stories. It showed how everything from Cannabis Control Commission human resources issues to testing lab controversies are related, not so much conspiratorially as much as, just, simply, if you know where to look.
This isn’t that kind of analysis. While some of these subjects are surely related, we just felt that with so much happening in Mass grass at the moment, that it could be helpful to do something we rarely do, and provide a brief omnibus overview in one post before the news cycle takes off again. Without further ado …
A new commissioner
If you remember what it was like when a new student got dropped in your class back in grade school, then you can probably relate to how CCC members felt two Fridays ago, when Mass Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, Gov. Maura Healey, and Treasurer Deb Goldberg announced the “appointment, effective November 17, 2025, of Carrie Benedon to the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC).”
“Carrie will fill the seat left vacated by Nurys Camargo,” and comes from serving as the director of the Division of Open Government at the Attorney General’s Office. She’s obviously technically qualified for the role, but that doesn’t mean that everyone is thrilled with the appointment. As an anonymously authored editorial published by Talking Joints Memo notes: “There was no notice. No timeline. No transparency around who was considered or what criteria guided the selection.” When you consider how some past appointments have turned out, those seem like some valid points.
Social consumption
One would need to have a lot of extra time and perhaps even legal training to closely follow the commission’s weekly progress on social consumption, which commercial media has dubbed cannabis lounges, or something like that. At this point, commissioners are spending several hours at a time combing through hundreds of pages of red ink-spattered draft regulations, tweaking minor details with the hope of finalizing everything by year’s end.
We have outlined the basic parameters of what these license types will look like in several posts, and the only thing that people seem to really care about with this is when it’s actually coming. It’s hard to tell, and the return of O’Brien plus now the addition of Benedon made for a few minor setbacks, but in the next few weeks we’ll keep you up to date on any final sticking points. I also have a video you can watch here.
Social equity
With a new cohort of Social Equity Program participants enrolled, money flowing from the state’s Social Equity Trust Fund, and a designated social equity exclusivity period for social consumption, there is a lot of attention on all things related to the SE apparatus. That’s especially been true since the CCC’s research department released an analysis of the state’s list of Disproportionately Impacted Areas (DIAs), which determine eligibility for key cannabis equity benefits, recommending a potential broadening of the program’s criteria.
The group Equitable Opportunities Now, which advocates for social equity interests, encouraged its members to testify about this issue at a CCC hearing earlier this month, and to note the following points: “Expanding the DIA list without adding new funding or resources will dilute limited opportunities for those already identified as most harmed by the War on Drugs”; “Demand for Cannabis Social Equity Trust Fund grants was [already] twice the available funding during the last period”; and, last but certainly not least, “This expansion could reduce access to Social Equity Trust Fund grants, exclusive license categories, and local approvals for existing Social Equity Program and Economic Empowerment participants.”
Those lying signature gatherers
Don’t get too mad when I tell you that I have spoken with experts and activists for several weeks about the clumsy fraudulent effort by prohibitionists to end recreational marijuana sales in the Bay State via the ballot initiative process, and it’s looking like there’s little that can be done at the moment about goons who are stationed at food stores statewide to lie about the Republican referendum. That’s why they are still out spreading bullshit through this week’s signature deadline despite all the rage over their actions; people are complaining to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, but Mass is not exactly known for tough election laws, and repercussions, if any, will come later.
If you are just coming to hear about this story now, it may not surprise you to also learn that the ghouls behind so much nonsense are longtime Mass prohibitionists, and they are also among those who helped thwart the effort to regulate psychedelics in the Bay State last year. We will have a lot more coverage in the coming weeks of various attempts to check the subterfuge, but in the meantime please tell us on social media or via email (info@talkingjointsmemo.com) when you see questionable signature gathering underway, and we will show up with our cameras and some attitude, as we suggest you do as well.
Marijuana bills on Beacon Hill
As it turns out, Massachusetts lawmakers are capable of doing more for marijuana than just whining about what happens in Worcester at the CCC. For better or worse, the Senate finally moved on a multi-faceted bill that could, among other things, allow for an increase in the number of licenses one owner can control, while the legislature’s Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy is taking up proposals which aren’t being otherwise addressed.
In one example of the latter, lawmakers recently advanced a bill that would require a study of legal barriers for first responders who wish to use weed in compliance with state law. The proposal, which the Senate Ways & Means Committee will now further consider, calls for the CCC, “in consultation with the executive office of public safety and security … to research, among other things: “drug testing requirements for police officers and first responders; internal policies of local police departments and first responder agencies related to cannabis use.”
