A marijuana company based in Holyoke Massachusetts has agreed to come to a resolution with the Cannabis Control Commission after being under investigation by the Commission for almost two years. 4Bros Inc. DBA East Coast Pharms is a medical marijuana treatment center that was issued a final license from the Cannabis Control Commission on June 4, 2020. According to the stipulated agreement the Commission started their investigation on November 19, 2020 after receiving a complaint about the operations of the facility. On December 16th, 2020 the Commission conducted an unannounced inspection and issued a notice of deficiency two days later identifying twenty-three violations of Commission regulations. The Commission says that they continued to see security, inventory, and waste violations over the next year the Commission as they conducted four additional unannounced inspections.
Some of the violations described in the full agreement include METRC records indicating an onsite inventory of 9,068 immature plants and 310 plants in vegetative or flowering stage when in reality the facility had zero plants onsite. after destroying their plant inventory and neglected to recorded those actions in METRC.Commission discovering an employee that was not a Registered Agent, was not signed in as a visitor, yet had a RFID badge that facilitated access to many of the limited access areas within the facility. The Commission also says that the dumpster onsite did not have locks and on four occasions observed marijuana waste in Respondent’s dumpster that was not fully rendered unusable.
Associate Enforcement Counsel for the Cannabis Control Commission Jacob Nielson gave an overview of the agreement. The agreement sets terms and conditions that include continuing education of owners and agents on METRC courses and mandatory refresher training on inventory, record keeping, waste disposal, and security regulatory requirements. Attorney Neilson summarized the agreement by saying, “This final order and stipulated agreement represents the culmination of an 11 month long investigation and subsequent inspections over the course of ten months during the suspension by the Director of Investigations.” The Commission voted to ratify the agreement with 4 voting in favor and Chair O’Brien abstaining. Hasmukhkumar Patel, President of East Coast Pharms, signed the agreement on August 26, 2022.
Watch the Cannabis Control Commission discussion on this issue at the 3 hour 33 minute and 45 second mark here: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_ZjdlZTU1ODMtMjA3ZC00ZjE0LTkzOWItZjE2MmE3NjNmNGJl%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%222fa081e5-cafb-4989-9fe5-91317f047c5c%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22b81a5c1b-dc8d-4be0-9448-f451ca13085b%22%2c%22IsBroadcastMeeting%22%3atrue%7d&btype=a&role=a
