{"id":81527,"date":"2025-06-03T10:44:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T18:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2025\/06\/03\/massachusetts-cannabis-control-commission-is-short-on-members-as-it-works-to-tackle-social-consumption-rules\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T19:48:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T03:48:12","slug":"massachusetts-cannabis-control-commission-is-short-on-members-as-it-works-to-tackle-social-consumption-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2025\/06\/03\/massachusetts-cannabis-control-commission-is-short-on-members-as-it-works-to-tackle-social-consumption-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission Is Short On Members As It Works To Tackle Social Consumption Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe important work of the Commission will continue with three members as we move toward finalizing social consumption regulations alongside work on issues.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Bhaamati Borkhetaria, CommonWealth Beacon<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Massachusetts lawmakers consider revamping the Cannabis Control Commission, the five-member commission is limping along with two empty seats and no timeline for when new members will be appointed.<\/p>\n

The commission has been down to three members since last month. In May, Nurys Camargo vacated her post as commissioner\u2014leaving the commission understaffed as the agency works on regulations to bring social consumption to state.<\/p>\n

In September 2023, Treasurer Deborah Goldberg suspended the commission\u2019s chair, Shannon O\u2019Brien, for allegedly making \u201cracially, ethnically and culturally insensitive statements.\u201d (O\u2019Brien was fired in September 2024.) The contretemps over O\u2019Brien put the agency and its internal struggles in the public spotlight.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the treasurer\u2014who is responsible for appointing the chair\u2014told CommonWealth Beacon that there is no update on when Goldberg will appoint a new chair to the commission. The law requires that the treasurer work with the governor and the attorney general to fill the empty seat left by Camargo. All three appointing authorities said that they are coordinating together on this task, but did not respond to questions about the timeline for when a new commissioner will be appointed.<\/p>\n

According to the law, three commissioners must agree to pass any motion. With just three commissioners left, there is an increased possibility of a deadlock because all three must agree unanimously.<\/p>\n

Last week, House lawmakers on the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy voted to advance a cannabis omnibus bill<\/a> that would restructure the commission into a three-member body. If the bill becomes law, all commissioners would be appointed by the governor, and two commissioners would form a \u201cquorum.\u201d The legislation comes as an effort to make the commission\u2014which has been criticized for failing to collect hundreds of thousands in licensing fees, having a toxic work environment and for general dysfunction\u2014more accountable.<\/p>\n

The commission is working to finalize long-awaited regulations for social consumption of cannabis. Last December, the agency indicated<\/a> that its goal was to publish the regulations by mid-2025. During the May 12 public meeting, Bruce Stebbins, the commission\u2019s acting chair and one of the three remaining commissioners, said that the timing of when the regulations would be taken up again is \u201cto be determined\u201d and he pushed off a discussion about the regulatory timeline to \u201cthe next meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the May 22 meeting, the commission did not address social consumption regulations, but Stebbins said that the commission aims to get back to the regulations \u201ctentatively\u201d on June 17 and 18.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe important work of the Commission will continue with three members as we move toward finalizing social consumption regulations alongside work on issues,\u201d said Stebbins, in an email. The commission\u2019s next meeting is scheduled for June 12, and the agenda for the meeting hasn\u2019t been posted yet.<\/p>\n

Social consumption, the ability to consume marijuana products ranging from weed beverages to edible gummies in public places, was legalized through the same ballot question that brought recreational marijuana to Massachusetts in 2016. But the commission has been slow to roll out regulations to create the framework to support social consumption.<\/p>\n

The Cannabis Control Commission has repeatedly struggled with internal disagreements and deadlocked votes. When Goldberg suspended O\u2019Brien without appointing an acting chair, the remaining four commissioners were unable to reach consensus on who would occupy the role, before finally appointing Ava Callender Concepcion.\u202fGoldberg later appointed Stebbins as acting chair, and he has occupied that seat ever since.<\/p>\n

This gridlock has persisted as key regulatory changes have faced major delays<\/a>, much to the frustration of those in the cannabis industry.<\/p>\n

Ryan Dominguez, the head of the Massachusetts Cannabis Coalition, said that his group has urged the appointing authorities to fill the empty seats on the commission, even temporarily.<\/p>\n

Dominguez said the cannabis industry is hoping to see a suite of changes from the commission, like streamlining the process for registering cannabis employees to work in the industry, in addition to finalizing the social consumption regulations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all hoping that social consumption would be completed by now,\u201d said Dominguez.<\/p>\n

Dominguez said that he hopes that the appointing authorities for the chair and for Camargo\u2019s vacated seat will not wait for the Legislature to pass their bill.<\/p>\n

The bill, which would also raise the cap on the number of retail licenses a single company can own from three to six, increasing purchasing and possession limits for cannabis, and crack down on hemp-derived intoxicating products, is in the House Ways and Means Committee. But, even if the House continues to advance the bill, it\u2019s not clear if the bill has support in the Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is concerning that we could be waiting a long time for [the appointing authorities] to appoint a full slate of commissioners while the Senate and the House decide how they\u2019re going to go through this process,\u201d said Dominguez. \u201cWe still need the commission to act on social consumption regulations and many other different things. So the best way for us to be able to move forward is to have a full slate of commissioners.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article<\/a> first appeared on CommonWealth Beacon<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>. PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https:\/\/commonwealthbeacon.org\/marijuana\/cannabis-commission-remains-short-handed-as-the-agency-works-on-social-consumption-and-other-pressing-issues\/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } <\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Massachusetts Marijuana Officials Launch Career Hub To Help People Find Jobs And Training In The Industry<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission Is Short On Members As It Works To Tackle Social Consumption Rules<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission Is Short On Members As It Works To Tackle Social Consumption Rules<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe important work of the Commission will continue with three members as we move toward finalizing social consumption regulations alongside work on issues.\u201d By Bhaamati Borkhetaria, CommonWealth Beacon As Massachusetts lawmakers consider revamping the Cannabis Control Commission, the five-member commission is limping along with two empty seats and no timelineContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81527"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81528,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81527\/revisions\/81528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}