Mass. cannabis commission rebuffs license applicant over ties to agency’s chairwoman

Cannabis Control Commission suggests Greenfield Greenery removed Shannon O’Brien without approval

Just over a month into her tenure as the state’s new top marijuana regulator, former Massachusetts treasurer Shannon O’Brien is mired in an awkward controversy over her previous ownership of a pot company.

The state Cannabis Control Commission on Thursday took the highly unusual step of “remanding” a license application from Greenfield Greenery, a proposed outdoor marijuana-growing operation in Greenfield that until last December counted O’Brien as its chief executive and 50 percent co-owner.

The 4-0 vote — O’Brien recused herself — essentially puts the application on hold pending an investigation by commission staffers into who really owns and controls the firm.

In a tense discussion before the vote, the agency’s other commissioners expressed concerns about whether the company had notified the commission, as required, about O’Brien’s departure and the shift of control over its operations to new executives.

O’Brien said she made a clean break with Greenfield Greenery in December 2021, and a renewal of the firm’s provisional license in February omitted her name. But that change was apparently never communicated to, or approved by, the marijuana agency, which has strict regulations around who may own a marijuana company and which mandates the disclosure of any changes. (The rules, which the commission strengthened in 2019, are also intended to prevent “hidden” investors from sidestepping background checks or secretly controlling more licenses than allowed by law.) [Read More @ The Boston Globe]