Thousands of pages include everything from private text messages to letters in support of former Cannabis Control Commission Chair Shannon O’Brien
Talking Joints Memo is publishing multiple articles about the newly public documents from legal proceedings involving former Cannabis Control Commission Chair Shannon O’Brien and Massachusetts Treasurer Deb Goldberg. Check talkingjointsmemo.com for updates and be sure to sign up for our email list for bonus news and analysis before it appears on our site.
It’s impossible to expedite a quick media hit about the ousting of former Cannabis Control Commission Chair Shannon O’Brien. The fallout stemming from her suspension and subsequent termination from the regulatory body has been infinitely complex, particularly as it relates to the legal melee that’s ensued between O’Brien and Massachusetts Treasurer Deb Goldberg.
Goldberg initially suspended O’Brien in September 2023, after which the latter filed an action in Suffolk County Superior Court for injunctive relief, “arguing that she was entitled to adequate notice of the allegations and an opportunity to defend herself against the same.”
A humiliating public shitfight has followed, including minor fireworks such as a last-minute temporary restraining order to suspend a contentious hearing, as well as ugly allegations of bullying, mismanagement, and bigotry regarding the former chair’s CCC tenure. For her part, O’Brien, who was officially fired in September 2024 after collecting six figures in state pay on suspension, has made serious claims about her former workplace, saying ex-colleagues conspired against her and the best interests of the cannabis industry.
Some players in this saga and their attorneys, particularly those in O’Brien’s corner, expressed interest in seeing as many documents and revelations from the case come to light as possible. Others, however, starting with the treasurer, fought hard to have delicate parts of a five-volume administrative record of the case—with thousands of pages including everything from text messages to news clippings—impounded, or at least for many names noted therein to be redacted.
But in early June, a Suffolk County Superior Court justice dashed any hopes that Goldberg, or CCC employees, appointees, and the agency itself had of getting ancillary actors anonymized. The decision read in part: “The Court concludes that the Treasurer, the CCC, and the CCC Intervenors have not demonstrated the good cause necessary to justify either impoundment or further redaction of the Administrative Record. The countervailing interests of both O’Brien and the broader public in unrestricted access to the documentary evidence bearing on this government agency’s dismissal of its Chairperson overwhelmingly tip the scale, and must be respected.”
And now, finally, it’s all here to gorge on. You can download the individual volumes and supplements below or access the whole trove here.
Vol. 1 (view or download here)
- This volume includes the full unredacted 80-page “Decision on the Removal of Shannon P. O’Brien as a Commissioner of the Cannabis Control Commission.”
Vol. 2 (view or download here)
- This volume includes the transcripts of multiple 2024 proceedings between O’Brien and Goldberg with their attorneys, as well as more than a hundred supporting exhibits and post-meeting submissions from both sides. Among the documents are phone records, media clips, and email threads involving the parties in question.
Vol. 3 (view or download here)
- This relatively smaller volume features additional supporting media such as email correspondence and social media screenshots, as well as affidavits, written testimony, and letters in support of O’Brien.
Vol. 4 (view or download here)
- This batch includes supporting documents from as well as the actual commissioned third-party impugnments of the situation including the much-contested “Investigation Summary Report for the Cannabis Control Commission Regarding Chair Shannon O’Brien and Chief Communications Officer Cedric Sinclair.” Notably, it features loads of emails and internal complaints that demonstrate how insanely dysfunctional the CCC was during certain points of these investigations.
Vol. 5 (view or download here)
- In addition to some repeat docs from other piles, this trove features several supporting and technical legal memorandums, but that doesn’t mean it’s boring stuff. If you’re entertained by bickering attorneys insulting each other in a proxy war underscoring the cultural and verbal nuances in play throughout these proceedings, then this volume is for you.
Supplemental Vol. 1 (view or download here)
- This mere eight-page file simply includes arguments from both sides from about a year ago in which the parties deliberate “burden of proof” as it relates to this case.
Supplemental Vol. 2 (view or download here)
- This dense and lively 144-page doc is solely the formerly confidential transcript from a May 2024 hearing involving counsel for Goldberg and O’Brien, as well as CCC attorneys and representatives from the Office of the State Treasurer and Receiver General.
