The chairman of the Cannabis Control Commission in Massachusetts, Steven Hoffman, told state lawmakers on Monday that marijuana regulators want to cut the wait time for a license in half in the next budget year.
Currently the average wait time for initial license review by the commission is 121 days. The agency told the Joint Ways and Means Committee at a budget hearing that it wants to hire additional staff in order to take this average wait time down to 60 days in fiscal 2021.
“Toward this objective, the Commission will require additional funding to support hiring, particularly within our licensing and enforcement division. This budget will enable the Commission to continue our growth and potentially add up to 34 new” full-time employee equivalent positions, wrote commission Executive Director Shawn Collins in the agency’s budget letter to the committee.
“In combination with IT and operational enhancements, hiring more Investigators and Licensing Specialists will enable the Commission to process applications on a quicker timeline while also ensuring continued compliance with state law and adherence to our mission.”
“This is going to sound, I know, a little self-serving and I apologize of that, but if we can increase the number of licensing personnel we have, we can increase the number of licenses and we can increase the amount of tax revenue that we generate, so I believe it is a good investment,” Hoffman said.
