BOSTON — The House of Representatives has approved a controversial bill to restructure the state’s cannabis regulatory agency, raise a cap on retail pot licenses and tax and regulate new hemp-based drinks and gummies.
The legislation, which passed Wednesday by a vote of 153-0, would reduce the five-member Cannabis Control Commission, which is responsible for overseeing the state’s cannabis industry, to a three-member body — all of whom would be appointed by the governor.
The House bill would also incrementally raise the state’s limit on the number of retail pot licenses any individual or entity may hold from three to six, with priority given to minority, women and veteran-owned cannabis businesses.
House Speaker Ronald Mariano, D-Quincy, said the legislation will ensure that cannabis “is regulated in a manner that bolsters economic opportunity, especially for communities that were disproportionately impacted by the criminalization of marijuana.”
It would also tax and regulate forms of edibles made from federally legal hemp — a cannabis plant cultivated for its industrial and consumable uses — such as gummies and beverages, as well as CBD products derived from hemp. The plan would also set limits on THC content in those products.
State Rep. Daniel Donahue, a Worcester Democrat and House Chair of the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy, said the bills seeks to address a “growing public health concern in the form of unregulated, synthetic and intoxicating hemp products, by banning these products and providing a regulated and safe framework in which hemp beverages can be sold in our existing alcohol licensees.”
“With these reforms, we are working to guarantee a safer and more promising future for cannabis in the Commonwealth,” he said.
The overhaul of the regulatory body comes into response to demands from top state leaders who’ve cited dysfunction in the agency that resulted in its failure to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees from retail pot shops.
The commission has been operating without a quorum amid resignations that have left the panel with only three members. In 2023, Treasurer Deborah Goldberg suspended the commission’s chair, Shannon O’Brien, for allegedly making “racially, ethnically, and culturally insensitive statements.” O’Brien was fired a year later, and Goldberg has yet to appoint a replacement.
House lawmakers are also seeking to address criticism from pot activists that the state’s cannabis regulators haven’t done enough to ensure the growth of so-called “equity” businesses founded by individuals who were “disproportionately impacted” by the war on drugs.
But several provisions of the bill are controversial.
Critics argue the plan would be a giveaway “big cannabis” by allowing pot businesses to get up to six retail licenses, which they said would hedge out small mom-and-pop operations that have flourished under the “equity” regulations.
“This bill is a gift to corporate cannabis and a death sentence for local and social equity businesses,” Shanel Lindsay, co-founder of the Equitable Opportunities Now, said in a statement. “How is someone with one, two, or three stores supposed to compete with someone buying for six or more stores?”
“It will undermine everything Massachusetts has worked so hard to achieve in building the most equitable cannabis industry in the country,” she said.
The measure must still be approved by the state Senate before landing on Healey’s desk for consideration.
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.