MJBizDaily | Shannon O’Brien’s quest to make Massachusetts a cannabis research hub

Shannon O’Brien wants Massachusetts to be the cannabis industry’s research hub.

To do that, the chair of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) needs to convince an operator to obtain a research license – possibly by changing the rules.

“We have a research license that you can apply for in Massachusetts, except no one has it,” O’Brien told MJBizDaily.

Under current regulations, a research lab must strike an agreement with a local government. And researchers must disclose the specifics of their research.

“It’s almost like we want you to do the research, we want you to pay for it, but under our license scheme, you can’t keep the IP,” she said.

For now, Julie Johnson, the CCC’s chief of research, is working with Massachusetts General Hospital on studies on the impact of high-potency THC on developing brains, O’Brien said.

Johnson could be eligible for up to $500,000 in grants from the National Institutes of Health, O’Brien said.

The research conundrum is just one of the wrinkles in Massachusetts cannabis regulations that O’Brien wants to solve.

Cutting the red tape in cannabis regulation

O’Brien, a former state treasurer, returned to lead the CCC as chairperson in September after being ousted a year earlier for “gross misconduct.”

She’s working on cutting the red tape that’s been plaguing an industry that has been over-regulated from the beginning.

State law requires cannabis licensees to take a responsible vendor training course, a certification program that covers local regulations, how to check identification and prevention of sales to minors.

While that makes sense for retailers, cultivators have little use for the training.

“How many times in four hours can you tell a cultivator, ‘Don’t sell weed to minors?’” O’Brien said. “It’s a significant expense. It’s a significant amount of time. So, we’re looking at how do we amend that requirement, so we promote responsible compliance with the law, but we’re not wasting time and money.”

The CCC is also looking into switching annual license renewals to biennially. Licensees still would pay the annual license fee, but they would only have to complete the paperwork, saving them the cost of hiring an attorney to help.

“We’re trying to figure out how we can streamline the costs and overhead for businesses,” O’Brien said.