With one colleague suspended and another now on medical leave, remaining Massachusetts cannabis regulators nearly had to adjourn meeting
There have been several stunning developments in the world of Mass weed regulation this week. On Saturday, the Boston Globe confirmed two big departures at the Cannabis Control Commission, while on Monday, the body’s acting Chair Ava Callender Concepcion told colleagues in an email that she’s taking at least one month off for medical leave.
So much news and shuffling is already impacting an agency wracked with problems, from the personnel front to enforcement (we’re also scrambling to cover a story emerging about rampant issues with the state’s seed-to-sale tracking system and expired products). And it’s happening on top of the absence of the appointed Chair Shannon O’Brien, who has been suspended since last September, spurring its own chaotic chain of events.
Before they get to the business of fixing things and regulating, however, the three remaining commissioners—Kimberly Roy, Nurys Camargo, and Bruce Stebbins—have to get themselves in order. And for more than an hour this morning, they were unable to do so as the result of their failure to find quick consensus on any of several motions to designate someone to act as chair in the absence of acting Chair Concepcion.
First, Stebbins asked if Camargo wanted the temp job. She declined, and nominated Stebbins in return. He said that he would be happy to serve for “what we hope will be a short duration,” but Roy opposed the motion.
Since it takes three out of three to carry a vote, the body has to gavel out if it can’t come to a consensus about who will lead as chair. Which means it can’t conduct business.
“I don’t know what the solution is,” Camargo said before a five-minute break. “We have a lot on the agenda today—we have governance to discuss.”
Stebbins agreed: “We want to make sure we can discuss some business today. … We’re trying to approve a new governance document today that gives us some direction.”
But they still couldn’t agree, echoing stalemates from last year when Concepcion became acting chair after hours of wrangling at multiple meetings. Subsequent attempts to tap one of the three as acting chair for just today’s meeting, or for two CCC meetings, also failed.
CCC counsel chimed in: “If you’re unable to arrive at a consensus, it might be most advisable to adjourn the meeting. Any decision made, there could be a challenge. I do defer to the wisdom of the body, but we do have to defray the legal risks.”
Following a second short break, Camargo offered a proposal for Roy to serve as the chair for this week’s meeting, as well as for a meeting with outdoor cultivators in the Berkshires next week. At about an hour and 20 minutes into the meeting, the motion passed, 3-0.
