The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission has launched a nationwide search for a new executive director to oversee the state’s marijuana program.
“The Commission seeks another visionary leader to help us maintain Massachusetts’ status as a model for safe, effective, and equitable cannabis regulation, and also guide staff through the opportunities and challenges to come, including the potential for federal legalization,” Ava Callender Concepcion, acting chair of the agency, said in a statement.
Concepcion is one of two commissioners leading the search.
The Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) is seeking a replacement for Shawn Collins, who officially stepped down Dec. 4, 2023.
Collins had led the agency since 2017, but last summer, the executive director found himself at the center of a controversy when then-CCC Chair Shannon O’Brien announced that he had suddenly quit, putting the commission “in crisis.”
Collins, however, said he had not quit.
Then, in September, O’Brien was suspended with pay.
She went through two days of disciplinary hearings last week, and a third meeting is slated for later this month, Boston NPR station WBUR reported.
The CCC set a June 15 deadline for interested candidates to apply. More information is available here.
