Issue 64: O'Brien Strikes Back

The Embattled Mass. CCC Chair Files an Explosive Lawsuit, But Do Her Claims Conflict With A Previous Public Statement? Plus: About A Million Other Pieces of News.

Sep 29, 2023

Hey friends, no time for an intro this week. Let’s get right into it.

O’Brien Strikes Back: Embattled Mass. CCC Chair Files Explosive Lawsuit

Lawsuit Alleges Executive Director and Staff Waged Campaign To Undermine Commissioners, Seeks Injunction Against Suspension

Facing a current suspension and likely termination, embattled Cannabis Control Commission Chair Shannon O’Brien is fighting back with an explosive lawsuit. You can read the full lawsuit here (it’s 15 pages), but here’s a summary of the more explosive allegations:

The lawsuit alleges that O’Brien was brought in by Treasurer Deborah Goldberg to be a “change agent.” But instead of supporting O’Brien in this endeavor to clean up the CCC, Goldberg allegedly side-stepped Massachusetts law by removing the Chair from office. The suit states that Goldberg had no authority to “suspend” O’Brien.
O’Brien claims her appointment was “greeted with resistance and insubordination from staff from the first day she was sworn in as Chair” and that Executive Director Shawn Collins refused to meet with her after her appointment despite claims that he regularly met with other Commissioners.
The lawsuit also claims that former Commission Chair Steven Hoffman was forced out of his position after the agency’s Chief Communications Officer Cedric Sinclair allegedly filed an internal complaint against him in “to force him out.” The suit also alleges that Collins and his executive assistant played a role in ousting Hoffman.

(As I covered in Worcester Magazine at the time, Hoffman’s sudden exit was both surprising and unexplained. It was latter acknowledged by O’Brien that she knew of Hoffman’s pending exit before the general public and that Goldberg had reached out to her about the position before the hiring process had even officially begun. This perhaps lends some credence to the idea that Goldberg specifically sought out O’Brien to help change the agency.)
The lawsuit alleges that this pattern of behavior continued during O’Brien’s time as chair. It also alleges that Executive Director Shawn Collins was keeping a dossier to use against a different CCC commissioner in the case that she “ever gave him trouble.” (The identity of this commissioner was not revealed, but thanks to the use of pronouns it seems we can assume it wasn’t Commissioner Bruce Stebbins.)
Finally, the lawsuit claims that O’Brien was given no reason or written statement regarding her removal. It also says she was not given the opportunity to appeal the move, and makes a claim that the recent appointment of Acting Chair Concepcion was unlawful.
While it’s likely that O’Briens legal team intends to provide more evidence of her claims as this suit develops, the lawsuit is currently sparse on any proof of her accusations. It's also important to note that these accusations, as explosive as they are, aren’t really critical to the main claim of the lawsuit, which is that Goldberg didn’t have the authority to “suspend” O’Brien.

News of the lawsuit broke just hours after Goldberg broke her silence regarding O’Brien’s apparent suspension, saying that an investigation by an outside law firm was held after staff and a commissioner made “several serious allegations” about O’Brien’s behavior. The identity of the commissioner who made the complaint was not revealed and no further details of the allegations were provided.

Goldberg also tried to distance her office from anything happening within the commission, saying that her authority over the agency only went as far as her appointment powers.

The news of the lawsuit was first reported by Katie Lannan at GBH.

Unpacking O’Brien’s Claims

Like most lawsuits, it can be assumed that O’Brien’s version of the story only shows a single side. She paints herself as a bit of a modern day version of George Washington, a reluctant battle-weary leader who answered a desperate plea from the establishment to come back to public service and do one last job to guide the Cannabis Control Commission through difficult times.

This is absolutely not to say there isn’t any truth behind the shocking claims she is making — we’ll certainly get more context in that regard in the coming days and weeks — but she’ll have to explain why she only started to publicly present herself as the agency’s change agent fairly recently.

Looking back at her appointment last year, you can argue it makes sense that she wouldn’t publicly trash an agency she was about to take over — but with the exception of some remarks about the difficulties the CCC has faced in reaching the state’s equity goals — her comments in the weeks and months after her appointment didn’t focus on any alleged shortcomings of the commission or its staff.

In fact, just four months ago, she had some pretty kind comments about Collins while speaking during a discussion of his 2022 performance review:

"I have been very pleased working with Executive Director Collins. He certainly is…(pauses) he has demonstrated a great intellect, a great legal mind. He is a wonderful person to deal with."

- Cannabis Control Commission Chair Shannon O’Brien on Executive Director Shawn Collins in a May 2023 Meeting

It’s important to note that quote came in the middle of O’Brien calling for an executive session in order to discuss the granular details of the executive director’s performance. It also came right after she referenced the bill introduced by Senator Michael O. Moore to install an independent auditor with the agency (you can watch her full remarks here). It’s clear that her full statement was, at the very least, hinting at the fact that there was room for improvement within the CCC.

Still, she’s going to have to explain how her remarks about Collins align with the claims she’s now making in the lawsuit, as all of the alleged incidents in the suit happened months before she publicly referred to him as a “wonderful person to deal with.”

Her critiques of the Commission have become much sharper in recent months, but only after she received a large amount of backlash for blurting out the details of her alleged conversation with Collins in the middle of an unrelated meeting.

There’s also one big thing that still doesn’t make sense to me: If O’Brien was so distraught by Collin’s behavior, why did she react the way she did when he allegedly announced that he was planning on leaving? Considering the fact that she would get to play a large role in picking his successor, it seems like she would have presented with a prime opportunity to finally flex her statutory influence, raise the alarm about improper behavior, and clean house at the commission. Instead, she told the public and fellow commissioners that Collins presence was key to the agency’s ability to continue to function.

CCC’s Union Station HQ Could Become “Injunction Junction”

I can’t claim to be enough of a legal scholar to offer any insight of whether or not O’Brien’s attempt to receive a temporary injunction against her suspension has any chance of succeeding, although I do enough to know that these types of injunctions usually need overwhelming evidence in orender to be granted.

But if the judge does sign off on it, it’s hard to imagine how the embattled chair bursting back onto the scene like WWE Chair Vince McMahon would result in anything but even more chaos for the commission. When you consider that one commissioner has apparently filed a complaint against O’Brien, combined with the fact that she’s openly beefing with the agency’s executive director and staff, it’s nearly impossible to imagine that her return would lead to productive meetings.

Final Thoughts (For Now)

Even with some potential flaws in her argument, O’Brien’s claims can not be taken lightly. In the days ahead, it will be easy to present this a battle between the executive director and the chair, with the implication being only one side is telling the truth.

While we wait from a return volley from ED Collins, CCO Sinclair, Treasurer Goldberg, and whomever else feels jilted by O’Brien’s claims, it’s important to remember that there’s a distinct third possibility here: Perhaps the CCC does has widespread systematic issues, and perhaps O’Brien wasn’t the right person to address them.

A preliminary hearing regarding the lawsuit is currently scheduled for October* 6th. Assuming my hasty application for court media credentials is approved, I’ll be there to cover it.

Other Massachusetts Updates: Regs Approved, Audit, Letter To Regulators, Trulieve Fined $500K+

Trying To Drink From The Firehose That Is The Never Ending Stream of Local Cannabis News

At this point I’m reminded of the old joke that ends with “Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?”

Given yesterday’s explosive allegations, it’s a bit difficult to focus on some of the other cannabis news that broke in the past week here in Massachusetts.

But I’ll try anyways.

New regulations approved. First, let’s discuss the one piece of news that commission staff actually want to see me talking about: As I touched upon last week, the commission voted 3-1 to approve new regulations that give them the power to govern host community agreements and enforce municipal equity. The new package of regulations also included new suitability rules that eliminate previously existing disqualifiers that prevented people with certain criminal backgrounds from being employed in the cannabis industry. The lone dissenting vote was Commissioner Kimberly Roy, who expressed concerns that the new suitability rules will allow sex offenders to work in the cannabis space. These concerns have also been raised by State Senator Michael O. Moore.
Audit. Now we move back to the increasingly large pile of things that the agency probably prefer I not talk about, as Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio released a report that showed the agency failed to meet requirements to ensure the safety of consumers. The report states that $10M in potentially unsafe cannabis was sold from 2019-2020. You can read the full report, which includes responses from the CCC, here.
Letter in response to legislators. Not happy with the letter that a few lawmakers sent to the state’s Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy, the CCC released a response earlier this week that pushed back against the idea that the agency has descended into chaos. The letter also took a few vague shots at the media, telling legislators to “consider the source” when reading coverage about the agency’s behavior and actions. You can read the full letter here.
Trulieve fined over $500K after employee death. The Boston Globe is reporting that the CCC has fined Trulieve $502,500 for multiple violations of the state’s cannabis regulations. The Globe states these violations include failure to follow workplace safety procedures, failure to process marijuana in a safe and sanitary manner, submitting an untruthful incident report, and other violations. This seems to be the end of a multi-year investigation into the company that started even before the death of Lorna McMurrey.
Trulieve will have the chance to appeal. Oddly, this news was not made public by the agency, but rather was leaked to the Boston Globe, who decided to first mention in an editorial piece without devoting any specific coverage to this fairly big piece of news. The cannabis space is still processing this breaking story, but early reactions suggest that some feel that this fine doesn’t punish the company enough (Trulieve’s current market cap is over $1.16 billion USD).

Nation’s Cannabis Nerds Descend On Rhode Island

What I Learned at the 2023 Cannabis Science Conference

As has been well documented in this space, things have been a bit hectic in the weed world lately, so I had to balance my enjoyment of last week’s Cannabis Science Conference in Providence with writing last week’s news letter, processing all the news that has been breaking in the space, and remembering to breathe. Still, I learned a lot. Here are some of the highlights:

I got to witness an extended preview of Unprescribed, a documentary depicting the battle for veterans to gain access to medical cannabis. The movie offers a persuasive argument that the country is failing its former soldiers by pushing them to consume dangerous prescription drugs. It also features some graphic real life footage of combat from the War in Iraq, so it’s definitely not for the squeamish.
I also saw a presentation by Dr. Amanda Reiman, a cannabis scientist who is also the Chief Knowledge Officer for New Frontier Data. During her presentation, Reiman highlighted some of the findings from data regarding medical marijuana patients that were pulled from 26 states. One big takeaway I had from Reiman’s presentation was that the data doesn’t back up the common claim that medical marijuana patients are just young, able-bodied men who are looking to get high.
I also enjoyed a presentation from Dr. David Aronson, who shared some first hand experience trying to implement harm reduction principles with medical marijuana patients who were already using cannabis before they received a medical recommendation.

This recap probably didn’t do this event justice, so if you’re interested in checking out the next CSC yourself, it will be held in Kansas City next spring.

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New England

CANNABIS COMPANY IS FIRST FORCED TO BARGAIN WITH UNION UNDER NEW NLRB TEST (Daniel Wiessner | Reuters)

A Massachusetts cannabis dispensary operator must bargain with a union even though it lost an election to represent the company's workers, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) judge has ruled in the first decision to apply a major recent ruling by the agency.
Administrative Law Judge Andrew Gollin in Boston said in a decision issued Thursday that I.N.S.A. Inc fired union supporters and engaged in an array of other unlawful conduct leading up to a 2022 election, rendering the chances of a fair vote unlikely
Gollin is the first judge to apply the Democrat-led NLRB's August ruling involving building materials firm Cemex Construction Materials, which opened the door for many unions to gain recognition without winning elections in cases where employers commit unfair labor practices.

ANALYSIS: Organized labor has been making big gains in the cannabis space, so its perhaps fitting that this fairly historic ruling involved this particular industry. Advocates have been arguing that the Cemex decision was going to have a massive impact on worker’s ability to organize their workplaces, and this ruling suggests there’s truth to that. So cannabis business owners take note: unfair labor practices during union campaigns will no longer result in just a slap on the wrist.

LAWSUIT RAISES A COMPLEX QUESTION: HOW MANY POT SHOPS IS TOO MANY IN DOWNTOWN BOSTON? (Jon Chesto | Boston Globe)

The city’s cannabis board hired consultancy Whitney Economics, which concluded that plenty of room remains in Massachusetts for more marijuana retailers. Founder Beau Whitney told the board in March that his analysis showed the same is true for the city of Boston, but that neighborhood-specific data was not available. Later in that meeting, the cannabis board approved the Soul Cannabis application on the condition that the ZBA waives the buffer requirement — something the ZBA did in August.

ANALYSIS: Based on the latest data I could find, Denver has 201 adult use retail stores, which equals 3,540 residents per dispensary. Boston has 20 active retail licenses, which equals 32,738 residents per dispensary. I think that pretty much every West Coast urban dispensary operator would burst into laughter at the idea that Boston’s market is overly crowded.

Even when just focusing on the downtown area, it’s absurd to argue the current situation equals saturation. If current operators can’t compete with new dispensaries despite their massive head start, that’s a “them” problem, not the city’s problem.

Rest of U.S / National

HARVEST OF OH FILES EXPLOSIVE RESPONSE TO TRULIEVE LAWSUIT (PR Newswire)

Harvest of OH (The Harvest of Ohio companies) has filed an explosive response to the recent allegations of loan default by Florida based Trulieve Inc. and its subsidiaries.

ANALYSIS: I would have liked to link to a version of this story that wasn’t just a press release from the plaintiff, but it doesn’t seem like any Ohio-based media have picked this story up. Still, these allegations are yet another headache for the Florida-based MSO.

BIDEN TO RAISE CASH IN ARIZONA WITH TRULIEVE, OUTLIER EXECUTIVES (Jennifer Jacobs | Reuters)

Nicole Stanton, an executive at medical marijuana company Trulieve Cannabis Corp., was also among the expected attendees at the fundraiser, according to the people who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The event was being held at the home of former Arizona Democratic Party chairman Jim Pederson and his wife, Roberta, the White House said. David Tedesco, founder of health technology company Outlier, was also invited.

ANALYSIS: Fresh off winning some goodwill from both marijuana activists and labor groups, Biden decided to rub elbows and raise cash with an executive from a company facing a number of labor complaints and the death of one of their workers in Massachusetts (among many other scandals). It’s likely that criticism of Trulieve hasn’t reached enough ears outside the cannabis bubble for this to have any real impact on Biden, but it still feels like a bit of an unforced error.

FORMER MICHIGAN HOUSE SPEAKER SENTENCED TO 55 MONTHS IN MMJ BRIBERY CASE (David Eggert | Crain’s Detroit, re-published via Green Market Report)

Johnson, 70, of LeRoy, Michigan, helped the bribe payers — a Detroit-area businessman and two Lansing-based lobbyists — by assisting their companies and clients through the process, providing confidential information about the five-member board’s work and that of other applicants, and ultimately voting to approve the applications. In return, he accepted no fewer than 38 cash payments between June 2017 and February 2019, a $20,000 “loan,” $2,000 worth of sex with a woman in the adult entertainment industry and two trips on private jets to meet with Canadian investors in a company seeking licensure. The flights were valued at $8,200.

ANALYSIS: As the U.S. attorneys who were involved in the case noted, this news will have to make applicants who were denied a license wonder if corruption was what prevented them from being able to open a medical marijuana business in Michigan. Something also tells me this isn’t the last time federal investigators will be examining state-run cannabis programs.

U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE APPROVES BIPARTISAN MARIJUANA BANKING BILL, SENDING IT TO THE FLOOR (Kyle Jaeger | Marijuana Moment)

The Senate Banking Committee has approved a bipartisan marijuana banking bill with amendments, sending it to the floor.
On Wednesday, members voted to pass the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act, sponsored by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Steve Daines (R-MT), in a 14-9 vote. This comes one week after it was filed with revisions that were meant to bolster its bipartisan buy-in.

ANALYSIS: This week was so chaotic (again), I almost forgot this happened. This was a historic moment for SAFE(R), but the hearing didn’t exactly instill me with a sense that this bill is going to have the votes to pass the Senate. There’s also the issue of the potential upcoming government shutdown.

CAGE-FREE REPAIR RELEASES 2023 CANNABIS SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY REPORT (PR Newswire)

Scoring is rooted in three types of justice: distributive, retributive, and environmental justice. Cage-Free Repair defines an initiative or business practice as socially equitable if it promotes and/or ensures at least one of three types of justice.
“I definitely feel concerned about the distance between appearance and reality when it comes to substantive diversity within the profit-seeking sector of cannabis.” said Project Advisor and Distinguished Professor at Texas Christian University Dr. Frederick W. Gooding Jr. “I undertook this project because I believe in the power of contemporary, fact-based scholarship — and the opportunity to bring Gaskin and Walker into the project was infinitely exciting.”

ANALYSIS: This is an ambitious project, as quantifying the social responsibility of companies is not an easy task…particularly when most of the corporations involved refuse to cooperate. Still, this report provides some valuable insight into whether or not the country’s largest canna-companies are putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to having a positive impact (Spoiler alert: the report finds that most aren’t).

Stuffed Clams. I don’t have the space nor the energy to discuss this staple of Rhode Island cuisine at length, but having tried my first one last week, I can’t recommend this local delicacy enough. A recent piece by Boston.com shows I’m not the only Masshole who has become curious about this Ocean State treat. Grab a bottle of hot sauce and give one a go the next time you’re in Providence.

This week it’s Cruiser, who is described as a “very spunky kitty.” He’s available for adoption at Worcester ARL.