Legislation would “strengthen worker protections, improve workplace conditions, and ensure unsafe products are properly investigated and enforced against”
At last week’s public meeting of the Cannabis Control Commission, Commissioner Kimberly Roy requested an update “about the industry tip line … including [about] anonymity protections for those who come forward with information.”
In her opening remarks, Roy also referenced a new bill proposal, for an Act relative to the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission forming a department of workplace and consumer safety, that was introduced on Beacon Hill last month.
“It’s my understanding that there is legislation being filed to help provide protections for those who step forward in the cannabis industry to provide them that anonymity,” the commissioner added. Roy also mentioned the importance of facilitating easy access to Certificates of Analysis (CoAs), which show all lab testing results for any given licensed product, and called for “a holistic review of all of our testing regulations and guidance documents” in the second quarter of 2025.
None of these issues are new, but topics like lab testing are being approached in new ways—read: in a somewhat more straightforward fashion—by the CCC of late. And there’s also additional light on them, especially in the wake of a lawsuit filed last month by the Framingham-based MCR Labs against eight other Massachusetts Independent Testing Labs (ITLs) for alleged “violations” of the state’s cannabis law, “intentional interference with advantageous business relations,” and “unjust enrichment.”
Fighting for Massachusetts cannabis workers and consumers
Amidst that legal storm as well as a recent public health advisory over contaminated products, the Mass-based Coalition for Cannabis Worker Safety helped introduce the bill to form a department of workplace and consumer safety. In a statement announcing the proposal on social media, CCWS Co-Founder Danny Carson wrote, “It’s time for real change.”
“The cannabis industry is expanding—but so are the risks for workers and consumers,” he added. A former supervisor at the Trulieve facility in Holyoke where 27-year-old employee Lorna McMurrey died in January 2022 after going into cardiac arrest, Carson started the coalition after his friend and co-worker’s death to get answers. He continued, “From poor air quality and employer retaliation to moldy products entering both recreational and medical markets, critical safety issues continue to go unaddressed.
“That’s why the Coalition for Cannabis Worker Safety is working alongside State Rep. Susannah Whipps to introduce legislation that will strengthen worker protections, improve workplace conditions, and ensure unsafe products are properly investigated and enforced against. These bills aim to close the gaps left by current regulations and give both workers and consumers the safety and rights they deserve.”
Carson’s coalition is aligned with the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health (MassCOSH), and the final language of the bill is still being drafted. In the meantime, he requested public input: “We need your voices! If you’re a cannabis worker, consumer, advocate, or industry professional, I want to hear from you. What safety challenges or health concerns have you experienced firsthand? What protections do you think are missing?
“Let’s work together to make this industry safer for everyone. … Reach out!”
