The Massachusetts Legislature’s Cannabis Policy Committee plans to wade into the laws surrounding state marijuana regulators at a State House hearing the day before Halloween.
The committee posted a notice for an informational hearing to inform its “reconsideration” of the 2017 law that formed the Cannabis Control Commission, which has come under fire this year amid personnel disputes including the suspension and firing of its chair, former Treasurer Shannon O’Brien.
Cannabis industry stakeholders will be invited to testify at the Oct. 30 hearing, according to the public notice, and people can request an invitation by submitting an online form.
Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro wrote to lawmakers in June urging action on the CCC, which he called a “rudderless agency.” A month later, in a July 30 memo, Cannabis Policy Committee co-chair Rep. Daniel Donahue said his panel would meet in the fall to study the agency’s work.
“The Committee foresees a legislative path forward addressing the sources of concerns about the CCC’s administrative function,” Donahue wrote at the time, adding that his committee’s primary concerns were “responsibility for agency operations” and “proper channels of accountability within the agency structure.”
The agenda denotes that the meeting will be “Hearing 1” about the structure of the CCC. Donahue in July had announced plans to hold multiple hearings, though an aide said Monday that no others had been scheduled as of yet.
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