Hashish Management Fee chair suspended

Native Information

Shannon O’Brien, Massachusetts’s prime hashish regulator, was suspended solely a yr after being appointed to the place.

Shannon O’Brien. Craig F. Walker/Boston Globe

Shannon O’Brien, chair of the Hashish Management Fee, has been faraway from her publish as the highest hashish regulator in Massachusetts. 

State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg suspended O’Brien on Thursday, a spokesperson instructed Boston.com. Particulars weren’t disclosed about how lengthy the suspension may final. The spokesperson mentioned they may not remark additional as a result of the state of affairs is a “personnel matter.”

O’Brien, a former treasurer and gubernatorial candidate, returned to state authorities after a long time to supervise the CCC. She was appointed simply over a yr in the past. 

Earlier than coming again to authorities, O’Brien labored within the hashish business. This included turning into a 50% co-owner of Greenfield Greenery, a proposed out of doors marijuana-growing operation. A couple of weeks after her appointment to go the CCC, the physique “remanded” a license software from Greenfield Greenery. This put the grower’s software on maintain whereas officers decided whether or not O’Brien had violated any disclosure laws. Greenfield Greenery’s license was ultimately granted, and O’Brien was cleared of any wrongdoing, The Boston Globe reported. 

However O’Brien made headlines once more this summer season, when she mentioned throughout a gathering that Govt Director Shawn Collins was planning to step down on the finish of the yr. This stunned her fellow commissioners. O’Brien described the fee as being “in disaster” and mentioned that Collins’s departure would create “chaos,” the Boston Enterprise Journal reported. She later apologized for “any confusion” she created. 

This week, Collins confirmed to the BBJ that he started parental depart on Sept. 11. Collins specified that he had not resigned. He beforehand instructed State Home Information Service that he had not made any particular plans to step down on the finish of the yr. 

O’Brien served as a state consultant and a state senator from 1986 till 1995. She served as treasurer from 1999 to 2002, when she challenged Mitt Romney because the Democratic nominee for governor.