Grant Smith-Ellis has been incredible following this story
If there were a 2024 Pulitzer for cannabis reporting (maybe we should start it) this series of stories would be my winner for the year .. and it is only July!
By; Grant Smith-Ellis
Date; 7/18/24
Time; 8:10AM ET
Editor’s note; All parties mentioned are presumed innocent, not responsible or not liable, as the case may be. Industry and agency sources quoted in this story were granted anonymity to discuss their experience with the CCC in light of ongoing concerns about retaliation.
I. Reports of Missing Millions at Cannabis Control Commissions Compounds Concerns
The conflagrating crescendo of concern circling the calamitous Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) in Massachusetts is no secret. From State Lawmakers, to the State Auditor, to the Inspector General –and even national unions representing CCC staff– there has been no shortage of incredulity by oversight authorities as to the ongoing chaos within a once renowned regulatory juggernaut.
However, even active investigations and an emergency proposal by the OIG to put the Commission into receivership –along the serious concerns as to an internal cover-up related to abuse of female staffers within the agency (by a now-suspended, and high-ranking, CCC manger)– may, in the end, pale in comparison to the shocking allegations that began to emerge over recent weeks related to the news that $2.000,000 (or more) in license fees collected by the CCC had “gone missing” and would be the subject of discussion at a public meeting of the agency earlier this month.
Now, I am able to report new details about that missing money (and why the topic never came up, as scheduled at the July 11th, 2024 CCC public meeting) that indicate those funds may have been stolen (using a complex scheme involving a P.O. Box and gaps in the CCC’s internal licensing system).
II. “Missing” CCC License Fee Checks Collected at Agency P.O. Box (but never cashed by the CCC)
The CCC collects tens of millions of dollars in license fees from applicants seeking any number of approvals related to the cultivation, retailing, processing delivery, transport and testing of Cannabis in the Commonwealth (those fees range from $1,250 per year to $50,000 per year, pursuant to 935CMR.005 (page 22 of 169).
Those license fees are collected by CCC staff from a P.O. Box (including signing for said checks), then CCC staff “sign off” on the fees having been paid before a license is submitted to the CCC for approval or renewal (or for something like an emergency extension due to new HCA rules), and, finally, Commissioners vote on the license (based on the recommendations of CCC staff).
However, I am told that some of those license fee checks were being collected by CCC staff from said P.O. Box, marked as “paid” in the CCC’s system, and then never actually cashed by the CCC.
Over time, the total amount of these “ghost fees” totaled over $2,000,000 and, in turn, became of concern to state officials (who, in turn, then began asking questions over recent weeks).
An upcoming audit of the agency by State Auditor Diana DiZolgio, as initially confirmed on this feed in December of 2023, may have also played a role in this situation coming to light (but I have been unable to confirm that detail, as of publication).
What I am told may have happened, although the evidence I have seen has not fully confirmed the allegations, what happened was thus;
CCC staff (in the licensing department) would sign for the check after it arrived at the P.O. Box (if signature confirmation was attached to the delivery), or simply pick up the check (if no signature was needed). Then, CCC staff would take those checks and go through with “approving” the license to move through the system (but this did not require the check, itself, being attached to the application packet).
However, some of those checks (totaling over $2,000,000) were collected, but never cashed, by the CCC itself (although the licenses in questions were denoted internally as having paid their license fees in full).
As of now, due to the early stages of an interagency probe of the CCC, is it unclear who took the money in question, where it went, or why the Commission planned to address thee issue in public and then, at the last minute, decided against doing so on July 11th.
However, at a recent high-stakes hearing on Beacon Hill related to the request from State OIG Jeffrey Shapiro for lawmakers to put the CCC into receivership, at least one lawmaker (Rep. Michael Soter) questions the OIG directly about license fees (in a way that might incline an astute observer to believe this issue was being discussed).
The OIG, in turn, told lawmakers that he would, “welcome any information lawmakers might be able to provide after the hearing.”
III. CCC Scheduled, and Then Cancelled, July 2024 Public Discussion Of Missing Millions
Per my sources, directly familiar with the discussions, Acting CCC Chair Ava Concepcion (herself the target of stern threats from lawmakers earlier in July after Concepcion took a hostile posture towards the authority of the state OIG to investigate misconduct by Concepcion and other CCC staffers and Commissioners) docketed the item for discussion at the July 11th, 2024, public meeting of the CCC.
However, just before that public meeting took place, the item was removed from the agenda (something reported on this feed within hours of that decision being made).
As of now, it is unclear why that agenda item was removed, however there were a number of developments over the past week (which I am withholding to protect the integrity of my sources) which have culminated in a number of license holders coming forward (to at least two different oversight offices) related to “strange” behavior as to the processing of license fee checks by the CCC.
Said one industry staff member, granted anonymity to discuss their concerns in light of ongoing investigations (and perhaps summing up the feeling of stakeholders across the Commonwealth);
“It’s time for the CCC to be put under the control of a receiver. Enough is enough.”
IV. An Agency in Free-fall
This is a state agency in free-fall, for the entire world to see, and those who are suffering the most are the tormented staff members, license holders, and members of the public who have been denied even the semblance of insight into the downward spiral of a regulatory agency that once engendered so much hope among a polity longing for even the smallest rays of hope.
And yes, it is true that some good has come about in recent years (including lawmakers and officials taking steps to create, and then roll-out, the state-run 0% interest social equity loan fund), but that happened despite the intra-agency turmoil and politicking at the CCC – not because of it.
No, the petty personal politics within the CCC have, instead, put up roadblocks and green walls of silence that, whereupon they come crashing to the earth, will leave in the wake but tattered ruins (as if some kind of sardonic anti-commentary on the fate of the CCC’s HQ, Union State in Worcester – which rose from decrepit decay into a modern Baroque marvel).
This reporter is here for the ride, please make no mistake, but I can only stare down so much human agony before I begin to question how it all went so wrong.
Yes, part of it was the pursuit of power and money, but that is always the case in politics.
No, what made this worse was the complicit culture of nepotism and self-preservation which enabled (if not encouraged) the most abject of human behavior as real harm befell those who, solely for trying to do the right thing, suffered in silence.
It has been said, and perhaps the adage holds, that one must be weary of staring too long into an abyss populated by monsters for it, too, will eventually stare back.
I think of things another way though (perhaps because I am naive, or perhaps because I still believe in this great American experiment);
Monsters exist because we create space for them to operate (either out of fear, or loyalty, or self-interest or otherwise). But that space does not need to exist, if only we come to fill the void with something else (far more powerful) – compassion, cogent discourse, and bright eyes always open to the darkness.
The next meeting of the CCC is scheduled for tomorrow (Friday, July 19th, 2024) and I will have special live coverage starting after 9AM ET (via Facebook.com/GrantSmithEllis).
As the Commission has begun to ban members of the press from sending inquiries to their communications team (myself being the primary example), I was unable to obtain a comment from the CCC as to this serious series of allegations. Previously, the CCC denied the allegations directed at Sinclair and alleged I was racist for covering the story.
