Jeffrey Shapiro on Oversight, Waste, and Reforming the Cannabis Commission
“It’s a revenue-generating agency—and it wasn’t working well.”
By-Hank Stolz
Photo-Radio Worcester
Worcester, MA- Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro was in Worcester Thursday to visit Doherty Memorial High School as part of the “A Story of a Building” program, designed to inspire community leaders undertaking school projects. He then detailed the governance issues at the Cannabis Control Commission, which his office had described as “rudderless.” Shapiro is optimistic that new legislation, championed by local legislators, will resolve the commission’s issues by clarifying the roles of the chair and executive director and improving overall efficiency.
He spoke about why the IG’s office had gotten involved and how looking at the Cannabis Commission went along with their mission of waste, fraud and abuse, “If you take it apart, I think everyone understands the fraud. The waste and the abuse is a lot harder to do. And what I would suggest is the work that we started to do in cannabis is really in that waste and abuse piece of it, in that it’s a revenue generating agency and it wasn’t working well.” and expressed optimism about pending legislation to reform its structure.
Shapiro also provided an in-depth summary of his office’s investigation into the former CEO of the Worcester Regional Retirement System, Michael Sacco, who the IG felt abused public funds by working his private law practice on public time. Finally, he emphasized the importance of his office’s proactive work, such as municipal visits, in preventing issues before they arise.
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