Massachusetts CCC Welcomes Back, Then Immediately Benches, Its Chair

In a move that could only happen inside the bureaucratic weed carnival that is Massachusetts, Shannon O’Brien has been officially reinstated as Chair of the Cannabis Control Commission — and then instantly benched on appeal.

Yes, after months of lawsuits, closed-door hearings, and taxpayer-funded lawyer marathons, the state’s cannabis regulator is now back where it started: leaderless, broke, and pretending this is all very normal.

The Official Theater

The Suffolk Superior Court ruled O’Brien’s 2024 firing unlawful, essentially telling Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, “You can’t just can the chair because you don’t vibe with her.”

The CCC immediately responded with the enthusiasm of a middle-school student government: reinstating O’Brien on paper while simultaneously issuing a suspension pending appeal. It’s Schrödinger’s Chair — both in power and in timeout, depending on which PDF you’re reading.

The Commission’s official statement reads like a HR memo drafted by ChatGPT on a Friday afternoon:

“The Cannabis Control Commission remains committed to transparency, equity, and public trust.”

Translation: We spent $1 million in legal fees to rehire someone we still don’t want, and we’re calling it accountability.

The Circus Tent

Here’s what went down:

• O’Brien was fired in 2024 after Goldberg accused her of “disruptive behavior.”

• She sued, alleging political retaliation.

• The court agreed, citing “total lack of due process.”

• CCC staffers now sit in an office where the boss is technically back, but also technically suspended, waiting for the next email blast from the Treasurer’s office.
  

One anonymous CCC staffer told us:

“We’ve had three Chairs, two Acting Chairs, and one interim ‘leadership facilitator’ in the last year. At this point, I just report to my Outlook calendar.”

Equity, Efficiency, and Other Buzzwords

Remember when Massachusetts promised cannabis equity? Instead, it delivered a regulatory soap opera starring a Treasurer with trust issues and a Chair who won’t leave. Social equity applicants wait years for licenses while the CCC role-plays as Succession for stoners.

In the meantime, the state’s cannabis market continues to choke on high prices, oversupply, and legal uncertainty. But hey — at least the lawyers got paid.

License Theater at Its Finest

This isn’t governance. It’s performance art. A $1.6B market is being “overseen” by a Commission that can’t even decide who’s allowed to run its meetings.

One industry operator summed it up perfectly:

“Imagine if the Red Sox rehired Alex Cora, then suspended him immediately, then fined Fenway Park $1 million for watching.”

Curtain Call

So here we are: Shannon O’Brien is back, but also not back. Deborah Goldberg is right, but also wrong. The CCC is functional, but only if you define “functional” as setting taxpayer money on fire.

In other words, it’s just another day in Massachusetts cannabis regulation.