Treasurer, pols find pot power a sticky situation
Both sides high on grabbing control over weed oversight
A tug of war over weed is underway on Beacon Hill between State Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg, who is designated by law to oversee recreational marijuana and wants another $10 million in her budget to do that, and the Legislature, which is mulling bills that could take away her power over pot.
Yesterday, at the first public hearing of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy, Goldberg said she needs $500,000 this fiscal year to appoint a three-member Cannabis Control Commission; hire an executive director, general counsel and other staff; and find them office space. In fiscal year 2018, she said she’ll need an estimated $10 million to cover costs, including software to track marijuana “from seed to sale,” she said. The commission is expected to become self-sufficient through pot fees after retail sales begin.
“As you know, time is of the essence,” Goldberg told the committee, even though the Legislature in December pushed the expected start of retail sales back by six months, to July 2018. “It is critical to carry out the will of the voters in a very tight time frame.”
Last week, House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo suggested that although the law gives the treasurer oversight of the marijuana industry, the Legislature may look to change that.
If it does, Goldberg said, “I think, candidly, the deadlines cannot be met.”
In the meantime, DeLeo told Herald Radio last week he wants to hear from the Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy, and Goldberg should hire an executive director to run the day-to-day operations of the commission and hold off on appointing its members.
But “without committed funding, it will be virtually impossible to hire anyone for the commission any time soon,” Goldberg said yesterday. “Those repercussions will be felt at every stage of implementing the recreational marijuana law.”
Will Luzier, who was campaign manager for Yes on 4 to Tax and Regulate Marijuana, urged the Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy to fund and allow Goldberg to appoint the commissioners so that the regulatory process can begin and the commission can make recommendations to the committee.
“I guess ... your view of this is we should be an advisory committee to the commission,” Rep. Mark J. Cusack (D-Braintree), whom DeLeo appointed to be the committee’s House chair, told Luzier.
“You should legislate,” Luzier said, “and let the regulators regulate.”
Testifying next to a portrait of her 23-year-old son, Cheryl Juaire of Marlboro told the hearing his use of marijuana led him down a path to the heroin that killed him in 2011 when he was 23. Juaire urged the committee to change the minimum age to purchase marijuana from 21 to 25, citing studies that show the drug has an adverse effect on the brains of users under 25.