Collateral Consequences in Massachusetts

EMPLOYMENT AND LEGAL MARIJUANA INDUSTRY RESTRICTIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH CRIMINAL RECORDS IN MASSACHUSETTS

In general, there are several wide categories of ineligibility:

• Healthcare
• Childcare
• Education
• Driving
• Gaming
• Law enforcement
• Public service
• Professional services requiring licenses

Many of these restrictions are discretionary. However, gaming, law enforcement, and public service categories tend to be mandatory/automatic ineligibility. Furthermore, some restrictions have time limits and others are permanent depending on the crime/category of crime (e.g. misdemeanor or felony).

Below you’ll find some of the restrictions:

• Ineligible for employment with Executive Office of Health and Human Services
• Ineligible for employment/license for day care/child placement/adoption services
• Ineligible for employment in county correctional facility
• Ineligible for employment/volunteer work with substance abuse treatment program
• Ineligible to participate in community service/work release program with Executive Office of Health and Human services
• Ineligible (or revocation) of various licenses including, operating healthcare facilities, childcare facilities
• Suspend/revoke registration to manufacture/distribute/dispense/possess controlled substance (health care)
• Deny license to operate registered marijuana dispensary (conviction of board member/executive) (health care)
• Deny/revoke registration to operate registered marijuana dispensary (conviction of dispensary agent) (health care)
• Deny employment/volunteer position in Massachusetts Commission for the Blind funded/operated program
• Deny employment/volunteer position in Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing program (permanent)
• Ineligible for license to engage in activity of mortgage loan originator (7 years for felony not involving fraud/dishonesty/breach of trust/money laundering) (banking)
• Deny/suspend/revoke architect registration
• Suspend/revoke barber/apprentice barber registration
• Deny dentist license (application by examination) (health care)
• Deny dental hygienist license (application by examination) (health care)
• Suspend/revoke physician license
• Ineligible for employment as physician by health care facility (permanent for felony)
• Deny/suspend/revoke speech-language pathologist/audiologist license (health care)
• Suspend/revoke real estate appraiser license (property)
• Deny/suspend/revoke dietitian/nutritionist license (health care)
• Deny massage therapy license (health care)
• Deny sheet metal worker license
• Ineligible for employment as hazardous waste cleanup professional (hazardous materials)
• Ineligible for employment as transportation network driver
• Ineligible for employment/volunteering in Department of Early Education and Care licensed/funded program
• Ineligible for employment in Assisted Living Residences
• Ineligible for employment with Local Housing Authority
• Deny/revoke contractor certificate of eligibility to bid on public building construction contracts
• Deny license to operate as lottery sales agent (conviction of applicant/employee with substantial authority) (gaming)
• Ineligible for motor vehicle damage repair shop operator license (convictions of applicant/owner)
• Deny minor transient vendor/hawker/pedler license
• Deny/suspend/revoke social worker license (health care)
• Ineligible for marriage and family therapist/rehabilitation counselor/mental health counselor license (health care)
• Ineligible for alcoholic beverage license (license for beverages not to be drunk on premises)
• Ineligible for license to engage in private detective/watch/guard/patrol agency business (private security)

Please note that this information is only applicable to Massachusetts; every state has their own restrictions.

MASSACHUSETTS NEW MARIJUANA LAWS

Inclusivity Requirement:

Procedures and policies to promote and encourage full participation in the regulated marijuana industry by people from communities that have previously been disproportionately harmed by marijuana prohibition and enforcement and to positively impact those communities. (p. 26)

Boston Globe

Under state law, two groups will have their applications for marijuana licenses processed ahead of other applicants: medical marijuana dispensaries that are already open or have a provisional permit; and so-called economic empowerment applicants — companies that are led by, employ, or benefit members of communities that had high rates of arrests for drug crimes. Once qualified by state officials, operators in those groups can submit full applications beginning April 16.

Cannabis Control Commission Public Meeting Minutes

This is the requirement to grant priority review to licensees that can demonstrate they promoted economic empowerment in disproportionately harmed communities. Priority review is a standard of review, which means, if an applicant can show that they meet whatever criteria the Commission decide to put in place, that applicant will then move ahead in line, so hopefully they can open their doors sooner. It is not a license designation. An applicant would still have to go through the same exact application for cultivation, manufacturing, retail, microbusiness, and then you would hold the same license as anyone else. This is about speed through the process. The second mandate is the Equity Program. It was originally in Question 4, as passed by the voters, and it requires the Commission to ensure that people from disproportionately harmed communities are included. It is a somewhat broad mandate, but the Commission can look at comparable equity programs across California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. (p. 3)

Guidance for Equity Provisions (One Pager)

Eligibility: Applicants or licensees are eligible for the social equity program if they demonstrate at least one of the following criteria:

• They have resided in an area of disproportionate impact for at least 5 of the past 10 years; 
• They have a past drug conviction and they have been residents of Mass. for at least the preceding 12 months; or
• They have been married to or are the child of a person with a drug conviction and they have been residents of Massachusetts for at least the preceding 12 months.

Eligibility as an Economic Empowerment Priority Review Applicant

• Note: same information can be found on pager above

The request for certification as an Economic Empowerment Applicant shall be evaluated by the Commission pursuant to 935 CMR 500.102(1)(b), where an applicant has demonstrated three or more of the following criteria: (p. 22-23)

1. A majority of ownership belongs to people who have lived for five of the preceding ten years in an area of disproportionate impact, as determined by the Commission;
2. A majority of ownership has held one or more previous positions where the primary population served were disproportionately impacted, or where primary responsibilities included economic education, resource provision or empowerment to disproportionately impacted individuals or communities;
3. At least 51% of current employees or subcontractors reside in areas of disproportionate impact and by the first day of business, the ratio will meet or exceed 75%;
4. At least 51% or employees or subcontractors have drug-related CORI and are otherwise legally employable in cannabis enterprises; see select disqualifying offenses below
5. A majority of the ownership is made up of individuals from Black, African American, Hispanic or Latino descent;
6. Other significant articulable demonstration of past experience in or business practices that promote economic empowerment in areas of disproportionate impact.

Select disqualifying offenses (p. 192-199)

• Felony Convictions in Massachusetts or Other Jurisdictions for trafficking crimes under M.G.L. c. 94C, § 32E, or like crimes in other jurisdictions, except convictions for solely marijuana-related crimes under § 32E (a), or like crimes in other jurisdictions. The Commission will provide guidance as to the list of controlled substances at issue. Mandatory Disqualification from any position in which marijuana or marijuana products are handled or accessible.
• Conviction or CWOF for Any Distribution of a Controlled Substance to a Minor. Mandatory Disqualification
• Felony Convictions in Massachusetts or Other Jurisdictions for crimes of violence against a person or crimes of dishonesty or fraud, “violent crime” to be defined the same way as under M.G.L. c. 140, § 121 and M.G.L. c. 127, § 133E. Mandatory Disqualification

People Convicted Of Trafficking Hard Drugs Essentially Barred From Industry

This was the most passionate discussion by the commission members over changes to the regulations. Commissioner Britte McBride, an attorney, proposed that given the fact the U.S. Justice Department has repealed the Cole Memo, the Obama-era guidance that allowed states to set up legal cannabis industries despite marijuana being federally banned, it would be best to prohibit convicted drug traffickers (other than those found guilty of trafficking in marijuana) from working in the new industry. McBride's argument was that to allow convicted traffickers to take part in the regulated industry might attract unwanted attention from federal prosecutors, and ultimately, bring the entire industry down.

Commission Chair Steven Hoffman and member Shaleen Title, who is also a lawyer, disagreed, saying it was unfair to prohibit someone who had paid their debt to society from finding work in the new industry. Ultimately, the commission voted 3-2 in favor of the prohibition. However, they did include language that would allow convicted drug traffickers to be licensed to work for a marijuana business provided that the individual has no direct contact with any cannabis product.

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Trafficking disqualifies potential pot workers

Chairman Steven Hoffman and Commissioner Shaleen Title found themselves aligned in the minority on the issue and argued that the mandatory exclusion would create undue burdens for people who have served their time and now want to get their lives back on track.

"We're talking about employees, we're talking about people that have paid their debt to society, we are talking about people that will be hired because employers think they have skills and the character to do the job, and we're talking about people that might not be able to get any other job," Hoffman said. "One of the great parts of the legislation we're trying to enact and enable ... is to actually play a positive role in helping in that respect."

Title said the blanket exclusion would not be necessary because of the other layers of scrutiny a prospective employee will face before being hired.

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Disqualifying Offenses for RMD (Registered Marijuana Dispensary (e.g. Medical Marijuana)):

Medical Marijuana Licensing Restrictions

Local Activists

• Shaleen Title
  • Co-founder of THC Staffing Group, a cannabis recruiting firm focused on equality and inclusion. As an attorney specializing in marijuana regulations, she has provided regulatory expertise for leading marijuana consulting firms including 4Front Advisors and Vicente Sederberg. She co-authored the Massachusetts marijuana legalization referendum and has consulted on state and local marijuana policy around the country. Shaleen has won several awards for her advocacy work and her efforts to bring more women and people of color into drug policy reform, including the Hunter S. Thompson Young Attorney Award and the High Times Freedom Fighter Award. She helped create and fund the Students for Sensible Drug Policy Diversity Scholarship, which seeks to widen the perspectives and backgrounds of people joining the drug policy movement.
  • How Activists Turned a Bad Massachusetts Bill Into a Great Law
• Kamani Jefferson
  • Kamani Jefferson is the Registered Lobbyist & President of the Massachusetts Recreational Consumer Council. A New York-bred entrepreneur with a background in business development and political advocacy. After graduating with a degree in Management-Information Systems from Binghamton University, he obtained sales + tech development experience in Silicon Alley (NYC) before co-founding the Cannabis Cultural Association. In 2016, he relocated to Boston to work on the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol while volunteering for both Students for Sensible Drug Policy and Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance.
• Sonia Espinosa
  • Prior to graduating with Harvard’s class of 2016, Espinosa helped co-found the Cannabis Cultural Association (CCA), an organization which strives to involve underrepresented communities in the legal cannabis/hemp industry. In 2017, Sonia co-founded the Massachusetts Recreational Consumer Council, MRCC, who’s efforts seek to ensure the safety of recreational/adult-use marijuana consumers by bridging the gaps between communities, local legislators, and Massachusetts businesses. We work to make a transparent equitable industry.

Additional resources:

• Marijuana Policy Project
  • Information on marijuana and criminal justice issues, including collateral sanctions, DUI and DWI laws, enforcement, and policing.
• Marijuana-sponsored job fair aids CORI reform - 'These people have something to prove'