It’s been a long time coming for the besieged pot shop owner who threatened employees
At their public meeting on Thursday, members of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission kicked the coffin of a troubled dispensary that has been dead and closed for years, its license already suspended and expired.
The decision to endorse the recommendation of the agency’s hearing officer—to revoke the license of shuttered Athol dispensary Elev8 Cannabis—comes after an extensive investigation following a public flameout most people likely forgot about, until now. Though other businesses have been suspended by the CCC, this is the state’s first full revocation of a cannabis license.
Things began to first unravel around February 2023, after employees of the Athol shop rang alarms about apparent regulatory violations and erratic and abusive behavior by the owner, Seun Adedeji. That month the CCC “issued a Notice of Intent to Limit Sales of Marijuana and Marijuana Products to [Elev8] … due to substantial noncompliance with Commission laws,” “identified ten substantial violations of Commission regulations,” and “mandated [Elev8] take corrective action to address each of the deficiencies by March 9, 2023.”
The company ignored the February order, and the following month the commission “issued a Summary Suspension Order to Elev8” after determining that the company, “through the acts of its owner, posed an immediate or serious threat to the public health, safety, or welfare.” As we reported back then, things seem to have gotten worse after the warning. Adedeji fired employees who were cited in the state’s notice, spurring the “General Manager of the Athol retail store [to resign] in protest of Mr. Adedeji’s conduct towards and termination of the Interim Chief Executive Officer.”
‘You touch my business, I will kill you.’
That’s when shit really started getting crazy. According to CCC reports, “On March 22, 2023, Mr. Adedeji informed Enforcement staff that ‘store is closed, we are fully compliant ccc recording regulation. Temporarily closed. Business decision as we charter blue ocean [wave emoji],’ then later the same day recorded and posted a five-minute video on his Instagram account.” Highlights, as documented by the CCC, include:
- Mr. Adedeji stated that Athol retail store was open for business and indicated that he was there alone. Mr. Adedeji shouted “and for my all old employees, if you step on my fucking property without my permission, bro, on god, you will feel it”;
- Mr. Adedeji continued, “goofy ass people fucking, fucking with my business, don’t ever fuck with my business. Y’all goofy ass boy. I’ll put a bounty on you…on god, if you ever fuck with me. Fuck with my business, Ima dog you. Ima dog you. Ima fuck you, you fuck with my business, I would dog you” and then said “bang, bang” and made a hand gesture imitating a hand gun;
- Mr. Adedeji also yelled “you touch my business, I will kill you.” Mr. Adedeji then paused and said “no, boy. I will not kill you. You fuck with me I’m gonna come for your everybody. Your whole family tree” and again imitated the sound of a gun being fired;
- Mr. Adedeji used the phrase “catch these ones” twice and “I will fuck you” numerous times and shouted if he catches anyone, he will “dog you” and to not ever disrespect him and that there “ain’t no way you can run, I will find you and I will dog you”;
- Mr. Adedeji again warned staff not to “come on [his] property if you are not here to work bitch.” Mr. Adedeji also stated “I pay your bills and you got the nerve to disrespect me bitch. I’ll dog you and everybody else. Disrespect me, hoe” and if “anybody got a problem, pull the fuck up, gang.”
The investigation and revocation of Elev8’s license
It takes a lot to yank a cannabis license in Mass. It’s also uncharted territory. Investigators carefully built and documented the Elev8 case over several years, consulted with relevant other CCC offices, and passed their findings to enforcement counsel. A hearing officer presided over the painstakingly detailed affair. Finally, this August, regulators formally invited the officer to brief them, and in turn received the 34-page decision that commissioners voted on this week.
In the final report, one agency attorney found: “The Commission has multiple, independent legal grounds to suspend, revoke, or deny the renewal of Elev8’s License. … While some of Elev8’s infractions might not, on their own, warrant a penalty as serious as revocation, collectively, they lead to the ineluctable conclusion that Elev8’s continued operation is a threat to the public health, safety, and welfare and should be disallowed.”
The rip continues: “The overall picture of Elev8’s operation is one of incompetence and ongoing reckless disregard for the Commission’s regulations, including those involving agents, inventory, expired marijuana, and notification of law enforcement responses. Most disturbing, however, is Mr. Adedeji’s five-minute long March 23, 2023 video, in which he threatened to kill former employees and imitated the sound of a gun being fired. Such behavior cannot be countenanced, either on its own or in combination with Elev8’s other infractions, and leads me to conclude that the only appropriate sanction in this matter is revocation.”
Years later, it appears Adedeji had still not come to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation. The hearing officer noted in the final report: “I sent the August 6, 2025 Order to … Elev8’s owner … Oluwaseun Adedeji responded and then sent an ex parte email to me at 8:05 p.m. on Friday, August 8, 2025 that purported to update me on Elev8’s application for the Commission’s social equity program and asked for a conference call.”
It’s a sad ending for a store that launched to headlines such as “Nation’s Youngest Black Cannabis Dispensary Owner Celebrates One-Year Anniversary,” “Athol’s Elev8 Cannabis dispensary to focus on equity and inclusion,” and “Cannabis retailer Elev8 celebrates successful first year.” But at least the saga is finally over once and for all.
