Massachusetts Cannabis Commissioner Pushes For Forensic Audit Of The Marijuana Regulatory Agency

The Inspector General has called the agency a “rudderless ship” and has urged lawmakers to put the agency under a receivership.

By Bhaamati Borkhetaria, CommonWealth Beacon

With concerns being raised that fees are going uncollected or missing, a member of the Cannabis Control Commission is calling for a forensic audit of the agency.

Kimberly Roy, the commission’s treasurer, didn’t address the fee issue directly, but said she wants certified public accountants to examine the agency’s financial operations, its fee collections and the impact its policy decisions are having on the cannabis industry. Forensic audits typically examine an organization’s financial records and look for fraud, misconduct or irregularities

“We’re just trying to make smart, informed decisions moving forward,” Roy told reporters following the agency’s public meeting on Thursday. “As I sit in the treasurer’s role, I have a fiduciary responsibility to this agency and I’m trying to make sure I adhere to that. We’ve done this in other areas of the commission, where we bring in outside experts that provide recommendations, and that’s what I’m advocating for again.”

Roy said that this wasn’t a “gotcha moment”—an apparent reference to press reports about substantial amounts of fees not being collected or gone missing – but rather an opportunity to help the commission modernize.

Roy said she isn’t sure whether her fellow commissioners will support her idea. “This involves a more robust conversation to take the temperature on [how] my colleagues feel on that, but I fully support it,” said Roy.

When asked about whether the forensic audit would be addressed at the commission’s next meeting, she said it depended on whether she is reappointed as the acting chair. “It’s the chair who determines the agenda so I could want to bring it up but it depends who is determining what the agenda is,” she said.

At a meeting on August 15, Roy was appointed acting chair for that meeting and Thursday’s meeting, but it took nearly an hour of politicking before all three commissioners agreed. The current chair is suspended and the previous acting chair is on a pregnancy leave.

On Thursday, the commission held a public listening session allowing those businesses that grow cannabis outdoors to voice their needs and frustrations. The meeting was held at a public library in Great Barrington. At the meeting, Roy scheduled a special public meeting at which the commission could pick an acting chair. “The  industry and the agency need one,” said Roy.“We’ve been accused of being a rudderless ship and that feeds into that narrative and I want to make sure that there is someone calling meetings [and] keeping us moving forward.”

The Inspector General has called the agency a “rudderless ship” and has urged lawmakers to put the agency under a receivership. Lawmakers have chosen not to put the agency under receivership but the committee on cannabis policy will be holding hearings on the agency in the fall.

This article first appeared on CommonWealth Beacon and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.