Hashish fee affected by severe case of the munchies

Corruption. Inside turmoil. Lack of accountability. Hackery. Now it seems staffers on the beleaguered Hashish Management Fee are getting a severe case of the munchies.

The Herald has been spotlighting the free-spending methods of Massachusetts state authorities over the previous couple of weeks, and data present the comparatively new CCC is working like every other state company in Massachusetts.

The CCC paid for tens of hundreds of {dollars} in journey, meals and catering expenditures during the last yr, together with quick meals joints like Jimmy John’s and Panera, in response to data obtained from the Herald’s public data request.

The troubled CCC – answerable for growing and imposing laws over the pot business – was additionally spotlighted in a damning report from the state Auditor final week, exhibiting mismanagement, violation of state laws and procedural inequities.

It could be time for Massachusetts to rethink its total hashish business regulation.

A number of years after legalizing leisure hashish, what’s Massachusetts left with apart from lots of of hundreds of thousands in tax income and a lingering air of pot on the streets that wasn’t there earlier than?

Talking of odors, the CCC shelled out $2,530 to a cigar retailer on “lab tools used for enforcement,” in response to the CCC, $893 to Panera, $844 to Vincent’s Pizza and a complete of almost $300 to Jimmy John’s sub retailer, in response to data.

The company additionally paid for separate fees of $3,304 and $2,926 from Luciano’s Banquet for “workers growth occasions,” in response to a CCC spokesman.

The CCC additionally paid $2,369 to hire out The Vault Perform Corridor in Lawrence, in response to a document of fees on the company’s “P-card.” The corridor was utilized by the Fee’s Fairness Programming and Group Outreach Improvement Division for “constituent coaching,” in response to a CCC spokesperson.

“Steeped in magnificence and allure, The Vault’s lavish interiors evoke a way of timeless magnificence,” the Vault’s web site says. “From meticulously crafted particulars to bespoke furnishings, each component has been curated to supply an environment of refined opulence.”

Is that this what the legislation supposed?

“The Fee workouts tight fiscal controls over P-Card use and purchases typically,” a Fee spokesperson mentioned. “Fee coverage requires buy requests to be permitted by an worker’s supervisor and the Chief Monetary and Accounting Officer. All purchases above $10,000 have to be permitted by the manager director.”

Beneath state legislation, the CCC will get its annual price range from the Marijuana Regulation Fund, which generates income from licensing charges, fines and tax income.

However Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s audit revealed a severe sample of mismanagement.

“Our audit recognized quite a lot of points that undermine and negatively affect the Hashish Management Fee’s mission to equitably and successfully oversee the hashish business in Massachusetts,” DiZoglio mentioned.

And the CCC oversees severe cash. Along with the hundreds of thousands in gross sales, the fee has been shelling out $500,000 “social fairness” grants, like one to a Haverhill dispensary lately.

However the hashish business has been struggling currently, with too many pot outlets opening and never sufficient regulation to maintain up.

As well as, the legalization of marijuana has opened up an entire new degree of corruption in Massachusetts state authorities.

Sheriff Steve Tompkins was indicted lately for allegedly attempting to extort a Boston hashish govt by demanding a $50,000 “pre-equity curiosity” within the hashish firm proper earlier than it went public with an IPO, in response to U.S. Lawyer Leah Foley’s workplace.

But, the pot board simply retains rolling.