An Act relative to medical marijuana oversight

194th Legislature (2025-2026) Introduced by Patrick O'Connor

Gives the Cannabis Control Commission power to suspend or revoke medical marijuana licenses for illegal sales or cannabis use disorder diagnoses, tightening oversight of licensees.

House concurred

Overview

Bill number: Senate Docket 1028 (S.1028)

Title: An Act relative to medical marijuana oversight

Purpose: To modify the authority of the Cannabis Control Commission (the Commission) regarding medical use marijuana licensees, expanding grounds for license suspension or revocation to include illegal sales and diagnosis of cannabis use disorder.

Status: House concurred

Introduced: March 10, 2025

Classification: Proposed bill (legislation under consideration)

Key Provisions

Amendment to Chapter 94I of the General Laws: Section 5 is amended by inserting after the word “commission” a new provision granting the Commission authority to revoke or suspend a medical use marijuana license to investigate either of two scenarios: 1) The licensee illegally sells medical use marijuana. 2) The licensee has been diagnosed with cannabis use disorder by a healthcare professional.

Practical effect: The Commission would have expanded grounds and flexibility to take action against licensees who engage in illegal sales or who are clinically diagnosed with cannabis use disorder, by suspending or revoking their medical use marijuana licenses, and to use the license suspension or revocation as part of an investigative process.

Affected Parties and Impacts

Primary: Medical use marijuana licensees under the Commonwealth’s regulatory framework (license holders authorized to provide medical marijuana).

Regulator: Cannabis Control Commission (the Commission), which would gain explicit authority to act (suspend or revoke licenses) in cases of illegal sales or cannabis use disorder diagnoses.

Implications: Increased regulatory oversight and potential license loss for licensees found to be illegally selling medical marijuana or diagnosed with cannabis use disorder by a healthcare professional. This could affect patients who rely on licensed providers and the medical marijuana market’s governance and compliance standards.

Procedural and Timeline Details

Legislative path:

2025-03-10: Referred to the Senate Committee on Cannabis Policy
2025-03-10: House concurred (indicating alignment between chambers on the measure’s status)

Historical context: The bill references similar matter filed in a prior session (Senate SB 61 of 2023-2024), indicating ongoing consideration of strengthened medical marijuana oversight.

Effective date: Not specified in the provided text; typical enactment would occur only after passage and signature into law or as otherwise provided in the enacted version.

Notes

The text provided shows the explicit inserted language and its placement (after the word “commission” in Section 5 of Chapter 94I).

The proposal does not alter the grounds for suspension/revocation beyond introducing illegal sales and cannabis use disorder as triggers, but it may interact with existing regulatory processes and due‑process protections under state law.

If you’d like, I can add a plain-language example scenario or compare this with the current law on medical marijuana license suspensions and revocations.

Bill