The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission is in such bad shape that lawmakers need to appoint a receiver to take the reins at the regulatory agency, the state inspector general wrote in a letter this week.
Massachusetts Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro called the commission “rudderless” in a press release announcing his letter to lawmakers, pleading with the legislature to take responsibility of the wayward commission, which he said has no “clear indication of who is responsible for running its day-to-day operations.”
“Today I am asking legislative leaders to take immediate action to appoint a receiver and, in short order, address the underlying issues in the enabling statute so that the agency can function properly, maintain its budgeted revenue stream, and provide clarity and certainty for its stakeholders,” Shapiro said in the announcement.
Shapiro wrote the letter after his office finished its audit of the CCC’s performance, which found that the commission had been slipping further into dysfunction over the past two years.
It’s unclear even who exactly has been legally in charge at the CCC since September, when State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg suspended CCC Chairwoman Shannon O’Brien over alleged racist remarks and staff mistreatment. O’Brien denied any wrongdoing, but the situation has led to general confusion for stakeholders, Shapiro wrote.
CCC Commissioner Kimberly Roy was named acting chair of the agency after O’Brien was put on leave, but the commission itself then voted to have Commissioner Ava Callender Concepcion take on that role.
In addition, the commission spent $160,000 over the past two years on an independent consultant to come up with a governance charter that clearly outlines the commission’s mission.
The charter is a job that remains unfinished, Shapiro noted, which is just one example of the “waste and uncertainty” plaguing the commission.
“This is no way to operate a state agency, let alone one that was responsible for bringing in approximately $322 million” in tax revenue, Shapiro wrote.
Shapiro urged lawmakers to appoint “a receiver with clearly delineated authority to manage the day-to-day operations of the CCC, until corrective action is enacted.”
Such a receiver could “carry out the daily administrative functions of the CCC” and do so without interference from the commissioners, Shapiro wrote. He also suggested that the current structure of the CCC – in which the commissioners directly vote on many actions that could be delegated to its executive director – is critically inefficient and need to be reorganized.
“I believe the CCC needs immediate clear direction with an accountable hierarchy. In its present state, the CCC lacks such direction,” Shapiro wrote.
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