Massachusetts Cannabis Commissioner Tells Critics to 'Chill'

The sale of recreational cannabis in the state has yet to be authorized, even though the plant is now supposed to be legal there.

Shaleen Title, a member of Massachusetts' five-person Cannabis Control Commission, tweeted this yesterday:

oh look at that, labs are on the agenda, you all can chill the hell out https://t.co/x0DkdlsO4K

— Shaleen Title (@shaleentitle) August 21, 2018

Kirill Vasilev/Dreamstime.com

What, you might ask, was that about? Just a disconnect between the marijuana industry and the state government's slow licensing process. Though recreational cannabis became legal in Massachusetts in 2016, regulations have drawn out the process of actually authorizing pot sales.

The state government requires recreational cannabis to be tested by a licensed independent lab before it can be sold to the general public. Stickers must also be displayed on the product to let customers know that it has been tested. Yet the state has yet to administer licenses to any independent labs.

The commission, as Title wrote, will finally meet on Thursday to discuss licensing two labs that have completed their applications. (Title later clarified that she tweeted the news in the frustration as a supporter of "marijuana consumer rights.")

Testing is not the only hurdle that cannabis entrepreneurs face in Massachusetts. As Kayla Stetzel reported in Reason earlier this year, the state's branding laws have made life difficult for cannabusinesses. (Among other restrictions, their logos cannot display a cannabis plant and more than 1,200 terms deemed "colloquial references to the leaf" cannot be used in branding.) These are all examples of a problem that Reason's Christian Britschgi noted in 2016: that "legislators and regulators have continually failed to treat the marijuana industry as normal. Instead, they've busied themselves with erecting an invasive and confusing regulatory structure that has stifled the growth of this infant industry."

Comments

[JoeJoetheIdiotCircusBoy]

Massachusetts' regulatory burden makes it difficult for business to do business?!?!

Say it with me: shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhocker.

[Juice]

Just get Annie Dookhan on the job. She'll expedite the testing.

[MiloMinderbinder]

"legislators and regulators have continually failed to treat the marijuana industry as normal. Instead, they've busied themselves with erecting an invasive and confusing regulatory structure that has stifled the growth of this infant industry."

I don't know, an invasive and confusing regulatory structure sounds pretty normal.

[Telcontar the Wanderer]

So, if previous examples function as a predictor, this means that Joint Crow should be abolished about a hundred years from now after a landmark case in Green vs. Cannabis Control Commission and a preacher makes his historic "I Haz A High" speech during the Million-Munchy March, right?

[Unicorn Abattoir]

Assuming they don't blow off the court date, yes.

[Telcontar the Wanderer]

Fortunately they secured some Durban Poison specially for the occasion.

[General_Tso]

Thankfully the slow pace of the usual suspects, and the outrageous taxes (state and city, hell probably county too) will ensure a thriving gray market here in the peoples republic.

[TangoDelta]

Wwaattt??? You east cost coast states are catching on to our advanced left coast tax supremacy. Keep the costs high and you don't have to kill off the "shadow economy" where people make money. Hell, how else are our politicians going to keep their campaign coffers full?

[Eddy]

Bought and paid-for crooks, lol!

Now check my sketchy Web site based on misspelled and vague promises of great wealth.

[Eddy]

Wow, spamming is easy, no wonder my sister's cousin's stepson's uncle's roommate made $500,000,000 a year sitting in front of the computer in his underwear!

[TangoDelta]

I used to make bucks sitting in front of the computer in my underwear but the push for free uggo porn totally demolished my margin and now I have to work for a living. Don't get me wrong, it was a good run and I'm not bitter but I still wonder, what the fuck is wrong with those people who used to subscribe? Is there some erotic magic in watching someone consume donuts and bourbon with their short and curlys hanging out?

[Eman]

I like to keep my penis in my pants on donuts and bourbon night.

[Dillinger]

>>>The state government requires recreational cannabis to be tested by a licensed independent lab

Dillinger Labs tests gratis

[Eddy]

Use my company, B. K. Wetting.

[Telcontar the Wanderer]

Telcontar Solutions LLC doesn't perform tests in-house, but we do have much experience and expertise to offer in transporting your product samples to locations of your choosing in an expedited, secure and discreet manner.

[Rich]

Among other restrictions, their logos cannot display a cannabis plant and more than 1,200 terms deemed "colloquial references to the leaf" cannot be used in branding.

"Very well. 'Colloquial Reference To The Leaf?' it is!"

[Brandybuck]

Just goes to show that progressives never really wanted to legalize pot because of freedoms or whatever, they just wanted to legalize it because it was a huge new avenue for regulations. A brand new industry to invent regulations for is a progressive's wet dream.

I expect when they are old and their grandkids ask them what they did to save the world, they will smile and recount their time on the cannabis licensing review board. "Once there was evil corporation who wanted to use the word 'leaf' in its marketing, but stopped them!" And in their dotage they will image that actually did save the world.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sarcasm? Yeah, that's real helpful.

[Ranter]

More importantly, how does an idiot like THAT become a member of anything official, like a "five-person Cannabis Control Commission"?

I don't know what's more infuriating - her "LOLZ, just chill y'all" approach to addressing the concerns of the people who she supposedly works for, or the complete official lack of concern about how ineptly the state is stumbling towards a law passed 2 years ago.

[Jerryskids]

The state government requires recreational cannabis to be tested by a licensed independent lab before it can be sold to the general public. Stickers must also be displayed on the product to let customers know that it has been tested. Yet the state has yet to administer licenses to any independent labs.

You know the feds have been pulling the same scam with "marijuana tax stamps" for like 75 years, right?

[Ranter]

Oh, and you remember what a bang-up job they did with setting up crime labs...

[Rockabilly]

Comrades: Taxing and regulating the marijuana is very difficult.

There are so many rules and regulations and taxes plus all the edibles and accessories for the marijuana.

And everything must be tested and retested.

[Fats of Fury]

So the people who set up the DMV are gonna regulate the sale of pot. Can hardly wait until Government run whorehouses. You'll spend 4 hours in six lines until the urge passes.

[Longtobefree]

And still have to pay the tax.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

She's telling the marijuana advocates to chill? I'd say trying to chill is their central objective here but the state keeps harshing their mellow.

[LarryA]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXxJKov1g14

"Everything is illegal in Massachusetts."

[Miter Broller]

Shaleen, apparently, isn't accountable to the voters of Mass. How unfortunate. But hey I think these bureaucratic dolts are on to something here. How about applying the 'sticker' manifesto to all things Mass. citizens use, i.e. alcohol, tobacco, coffee, etc.