MARIJUANA COMMISSION TAPS COLLINS
Is top aide in Treasury
The state marijuana commission tapped the Treasury Department’s “point person” on pot to its top post yesterday, installing a Beacon Hill aide whom officials and advocates both lauded for a deep-rooted knowledge of the nascent industry.
Shawn Collins, a deputy under Treasurer Deb Goldberg, was unani- mously selected by the Cannabis Control Commission to be its executive director. The position, which is expected to come with a salary of about $150,000, wields influence over everything from the commission’s budget to the selection of soughtafter dispensary licenses.
Collins was an integral figure in preparing Goldberg’s office after voters last November passed a ballot question that, at the time, thrust oversight into the hands of the treasury.
Jim Borghesani, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, said advocates who helped craft the initial law’s language met several times with Collins both before and after the vote. He said Collins displayed a strong grasp of how regulations have affected other states that previously legalized marijuana and how they could impact Massachusetts.
Lawmakers later overhauled the law, making the commission an independent agency.
“I found his knowledge of the industry and the homework he had done on other states to be really impressive,” said Borghesani, calling the decision to select Collins a “wise choice.”
Through a spokeswoman, Collins declined an interview until he is formally offered the position. The commission picked him over Erin Bradley, executive director of the Children’s League of Massachusetts, and Norman Birenbaum, a former staffer under then-Lt. Gov. Tim Murray and who has overseen the regulatory framework for Rhode Island’s medical marijuana program.
The commission faces a tight timeline to install regulations, a 40-person staff and the software to monitor the industry before it begins to field applications for dispensaries next spring.
Commission Chairman Steve Hoffman said, “We have a lot of work to do and with Shawn’s extensive background in researching this new industry we believe he will help us better fulfill our obligations to the people of the commonwealth.”