Cannabis Control Commission departures, uncollected fees, a call for a forensic audit, and some good stuff too
Millions of Massachusetts commuters and residents drive motor vehicles. Presumably, though, very few of them follow the politics of our state’s RMV, or of any other agencies that regulate gas, roads, and autos.
Similarly, other than the occasional news blip about a bar where drunken mayhem lands the owner in front of a liquor board, there aren’t many eyeballs on the bodies that make rules for booze. Even when negative press bubbles up, like the enduring lack of liquor licenses in Boston’s Black neighborhoods, critics rarely throw shade at the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.
Yet while the Bay State’s beer and liquor-licensing authority operates in similar obscurity to most other government offices and functions, several reporters in Mass follow weed regulation closely, with a chorus of others from outside New England who amplify news deep into the national weed echosphere.
This phenomenon has transpired before, typically when the Cannabis Control Commission generates negative headlines. Misery loves company and drama makes for clickbait, so it’s no surprise that Massachusetts regulators, amidst recent turmoil, are back in the crosshairs of the Boston Globe and others.
As I see it, from the standpoint of someone who often spends more than 10 hours a month watching the body’s proceedings on livestreams, there are two main reasons for all the attention placed on the seemingly perpetual regulatory rollercoaster: 1 – A lot of people, from media makers and editors to readers, want to see the industry fail. And 2 – The CCC deserves most of the critical coverage.
In the past two weeks, GBH weighed in on the commission’s “leadership drama,” while the Globe wagged its finger at the “upheaval.” And thanks to the CommonWealth Beacon syndicating a piece about Commissioner Kimberly Roy pushing for a forensic audit of the CCC, August will close out with people everywhere under the impression that the agency couldn’t efficiently license an ice cream stand, let alone the thousands of cannabis business applicants whose fates it determines.
There have been glimmers of hope, like a recent listening session about issues facing outdoor cultivators, but overall, the agency failed to rebound after a grueling July. That month ended with a promise from state lawmakers of a full review and rectal exam, the subsequent fallout following calls from the state inspector general to put the CCC into receivership.
In addition to the aforementioned looming legislative review, the IG’s public impugnment of the commission did appear to spur some positive momentum. On Aug. 14, the agency released multiple sets of minutes from executive sessions that it had been criticized for withholding. Also, acting Executive Director Debbie Hilton-Creek reported that the CCC finally filled several vacant positions it also took prior flak for.
Those pluses, however, were drowned out by news about high-level departures (much of which originated in reporting by Grant Smith Ellis), the discovery of hundreds of thousands of dollars (at least) in uncollected fees, acting Chair Ava Callender Concepcion going on medical leave, and the never-ending search for a new executive director.
Whoever takes that job had better be prepared for all sorts of attention, because they’ll be helping run the only agency in Massachusetts that the press and public seem to give a shit about.
