The future of cannabis smoking lounges in Massachusetts

This week on the podcast we have an interview that was supposed to be very different. Steve Cary, the executive director of Focus Springfield community television, had labored for weeks negotiating an appearance of Cannabis Control Commissioners as part of a discussion about the effort the commission is undertaking in setting up the regulations for social consumption or in non-government-ese, cannabis smoking lounges. The commission's website reports the commissioners should have these rules established sometime in the middle of this year. The commission agreed that two commissioners – Bruce Stebbins who had lived in western Massachusetts and Nurys Camargo – would appear with two licensees. After some discussion, Focus Springfield asked Payton Shubrick, owner of the Six Bricks dispensary in Springfield and former Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson, founder & CEO of Apex Noire Cannabis in Boston. They both readily agreed to participate. It should be noted that both dispensary owners have been critical of the commission's activities or lack of activity about key issues facing the cannabis industry in the commonwealth. The night before the interview, Stebbins told Cary that the two commissioners would not be there as Camargo felt "uncomfortable" discussing the issue with licensees. The decision was made to move forward with the interview, though, with Shubrick and Jackson. As discovered after the program was taped, both Stebbins and Camargo were indeed in Springfield and having lunch at the famed Student Prince restaurant a few blocks away from the Focus Springfield studio. They were eating with two members of the Liberty Bank staff, one of whom decided to post a photo of the group on social media. I've included the photot of thre two commissioners hard at work.  This interview will give listeners an opportunity to hear the answers I posed to the two licensees about smoking lounges. They gave informed answers about what they know about how lounges here could work and how lounges in other states operate. It's enraging to me that the commissioners did what they did. They are public officials paid by tax dollars and they should be willing to discuss issues. Perhaps they should consider finding a new job.