A TOP AIDE to state Treasurer Deborah Goldberg who fashioned the regulatory infrastructure for the nascent retail marijuana business when that office was set to oversee the emerging industry has been tapped as the state’s executive director of the new commission in charge of legal pot. Assistant Treasurer Shawn Collins, 31, was unanimously approved by […]
Cannabis Control Commission
Posted inPolitics
Islanders want their pot, too
THE “LISTENING TOUR” by the board charged with regulating the state’s emerging marijuana industry landed on Martha’s Vineyard Tuesday, where the two members heard pleas from pro-pot advocates to help their island as well as Nantucket steer clear of the federal obstacles no other communities in Massachusetts face. About 70 people crowded into the West […]
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Pot board taps chair as interim director
THE MAIN ORDER of business Tuesday in the Cannabis Control Commission’s first-ever public hearing was to install an interim executive director and the board didn’t look far – Chairman Steven Hoffman was unanimously approved to take the helm until the panel hires a permanent director. “We need to get started today and there’s things we […]
Posted inPolitics
New pot czar has inhaled
DESPITE VOTING AGAINST the referendum to legalize marijuana last November, Steven Hoffman, the chairman of the new state board charged with regulating the nascent retail pot industry, said he thinks the drug is “harmless” and will cause no more problems than alcohol. “I personally believe marijuana is a harmless drug,” Hoffman said in an interview […]
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Majority of pot board opposed referendum
THE NEW CANNABIS Control Commission is now complete but, with the appointment of yet two more members who voted against the ballot question to legalize marijuana, the panel has a majority who opposed the measure and just one proponent, who was one of the drafters of the initiative petition. Attorney General Maura Healey appointed Britte […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Ballot opponent to head legal pot commission
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A RETIRED BUSINESS executive and former Bain and Company partner who voted against the referendum to legalize marijuana has been tapped by Treasurer Deborah Goldberg to chair the new Cannabis Control Commission and lead the state’s efforts to get a recreational pot industry off the ground by next summer. Steven Hoffman, […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Baker taps pot foe for cannabis control board
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SEN. JENNIFER FLANAGAN, a Leominster Democrat, has become the first of five members of the powerful new Cannabis Control Commission, tapped by Gov. Charlie Baker to help take on the responsibility of regulating the nascent recreational marijuana industry and licensing retail pot shops. Flanagan, who voted against the 2016 ballot question […]