BREAKING NEWS 🚨🚨🚨: Massachusetts OIG Confirms Nearly $2,000,000 in Uncollected License Fees At Troubled Cannabis Control Commission, Calls For Immediate Audit.

By: Grant Smith-Ellis

Date: 3/27/25

Time: 5:00PM

My reporting, from 2024, has been confirmed by the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General. Nearly $2,00,000 in license fees went uncollected by CCC staff for a significant amount of time and the OIG is now calling for immediate audit of agency to confirm all license fees have been paid as required.

“The OIG found that CCC staff members did not take action on an August 11, 2022 vote by the commissioners to collect prorated fees on license extensions. This inaction resulted in more than $550,000 in foregone revenue.2 The OIG also found that for almost two years the CCC did not collect fees from more than 120 provisional license applicants, which at one point may have been as much as $1.2 million.3 While the OIG’s investigation did not find fraud, it does suggest poor business practices and oversight,” the report began.

The findings of the shocking OIG report, that will only strengthen existing calls from that office, the State Auditor, and multiple state lawmakers for the agency to be put under the control of a receiver or to be restructured from the top down, are thus:

1) CCC staff members granted license extensions prior to the commission granting the staff the authority to do so.

2) CCC staff failed to implement the actions required by the commission’s August 11, 2022 vote regarding license extensions and prorated fees.

3) The CCC’s licensing platform lacked the necessary controls to collect prorated and provisional license fees.

4) The CCC staff lacked supervision and accountability.

“Perhaps more troubling than the uncollected fees is the fact that CCC staff were granting license extensions without authority, and then, when given the authority, failed to collect the associated prorated fee,” IG Jeffrey S. Shapiro added.

“The inability of CCC staff to implement a key commission initiative should have been readily apparent to supervisors and commissioners in real time,” IG Shapiro continued.

I. IG Calls For Immediate Reform At Troubled Regulatory Juggernaut

IG Shapiro, who called on the Legislature to appoint a receiver last June, believes the time for a receiver has passed, but the need for reform has not. “I am optimistic that the new executive director is committed to establishing sound operational practices and management,” IG Shapiro said. “However, that will not overcome the fact that the Commission’s enabling statute does not clearly define the authority of the Chair and the Executive Director. Until that issue is addressed, I fear that responsibility and accountability will continue to be elusive, and the Commission will struggle to gain its footing to chart a proper path forward.”

Read a press release from the OIG:

"In a letter sent today, Inspector General Jeffrey S. Shapiro advised the Executive Director and the Acting Chair of Cannabis Control Commission to conduct an audit to confirm that licensees have paid all applicable fees, after an OIG investigation found that the agency did not collect approximately $550,000 in prorated license fees and up to $1.2 million in potential provisional licensing fees from August 2022 to August 2024.

“I recognize that neither of you held leadership positions at the CCC during that two-year period, but as the CCC’s current leaders you must definitively act on the recommendations in this letter,” IG Shapiro said. “Our investigation did not find any suggestion of fraud, but it did reveal an egregious operational breakdown that underscores the need for statutory reform. We are pleased to learn that the CCC has recently worked to update the agency’s payment systems and has begun to recoup previously uncollected fees. It is still important to perform an audit to ensure that all current licensees have paid all applicable fees and fully understand what revenue went uncollected, as businesses ceased operations.”

"The OIG launched an investigation in July 2024, after receiving a hotline complaint alleging that the CCC was failing to collect required fees. At that time, it was unclear whether this was an operational issue or if fraud may have been a factor. On August 11, 2022, the CCC commissioners voted unanimously to delegate their authority to extend a license expiration date up to 120 days to the executive director. The licensee would be required to pay a prorated fee to cover the extension period. The OIG found that not only did the CCC staff not collect the prorated fees, but they were also already granting license extensions without the authority to do so. This inaction resulted in approximately $550,000 in foregone revenue during the two-year period. Current leadership has indicated that the CCC has since begun collecting these prorated licensing fees."

II. A Towel (And Eventually Former CCC Chain Shannon O'Brien) Vindicated

This reporter, it should be noted, was attacked relentlessly by agency staff, and some commissioners, at public meetings (both directly and indirectly) for coverage of these missing fees over recent years (and this reporter still remains banned from CCC press conference, apparently for being on to the collapse of this Godforsaken agency long before others saw it coming, and for no other reason).

Needless to say, it is hard not to feel vindicated in light of today's announcement. I shall take five minutes and then return to being a towel.

Only one Commissioner, it should be noted, has been yelling from the rooftops for reform at the agency (Commissioner Kimberly Roy), and even those calls came amid dangerous waters (as previous CCC Chair Shannon O'Brien is currently engaged in a lawsuit alleging that a group of CCC staff, and some commissioners, "took out" O'Brien, with the help of the state Treasurer, for trying to raise awareness and reform some of the very structural issues that are now being forced into the light by the OIG.

Now, the only questions that remains, is when will O'Brien get her apology, her job back, and her rightful vindication, as well.

Read the 9-page letter sent by the OIG, to nearly all of state government, here - https://www.mass.gov/doc/ccc-failed-to-collect-prorated-and-provisional-license-fees/download