Epic Fail?

State Audit: Problems galore with the Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division

In a scathing new report, the Colorado State Auditor blasted the Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division (MMED) over almost every area of its purview. Recently released, the legislative audit committee noted egregious errors in everything from licensing to expenditures, including $4,200 for four office chairs. Here’s the breakdown:

Licensing

More than two years after the agency began, 40 percent of the original applicants are still waiting for approval. In a random sampling of 35 “new applications,” auditors found approved businesses operating within 1,000 feet of a school, with expired local approval, with cancelled surety bonds and owners with criminal records or tax delinquencies. All of these are illegal and no explanation was given as to why they were given the right to open.

The average time to get licensed if you applied before the moratorium took effect? 688 days, with the longest running over 800. The report attributes that to burdensome on-site inspections (which aren’t required by law) being performed by an agency with 15 full-time staff members as of Oct. 12, 2013. That’s 64 dispensaries, grows or infused products manufacturers per employee to clear the backlog. Most of those employees serve in office positions, however.

Occupational Licenses

To get a job working in a facility that grows, manufactures or sells MMJ products, you currently need a badge from the MMED, an idea that the auditor’s report wants to toss out altogether. The Division was incredibly lenient handing out these work permits, issuing them before background checks were returned in some cases, and in one case approving someone who had previous been arrested for felony aggravated robbery and felony menacing with a deadly weapon. That’s if you could get an appointment: the division went six months without opening up a date, even though walk-ins were secretly encouraged (which MMED management denies).

While it’s fortuitous for many looking to get involved in the industry to leave with a badge, the information they left behind could haunt them for years. When the auditors requested a sample of occupational licenses, 36 percent were missing documents that could contain sensitive information such as Social Security numbers or past criminal history. With 4,859 approved badges, that’s over a 1,000 potential files lost or leaked.

Monitoring

By and large, monitoring doesn’t exist. While many decried regulation efforts as “Big Brother”-eque, the seed-to-sale tracking system is still underfunded by $400,000 and no camera monitoring systems are in place. In fact, with staffing concerns it looks doubtful the latter ever gets off the ground. The MMED is reporting it doesn’t currently review any of the documents sent in regarding transportation of meds, inventory sheets or patients changing providers, let alone engage in wide-scale tracking.

Disposal

The old jokes about a cop taking your weed only to smoke it himself later will likely be lobbed at the MMED as the audit reveals that no records exist as to the date or amount of cannabis the division nabs—or if it was ever destroyed. Additionally, the facility they store the products destroyed off-site is less secure than the dispensaries they were taken from.

Financial Management

With regards to fees, the findings show that they’re essentially made up, with no figures to justify them. For example, it takes two hours to finish an occupational license versus 1.5 hours to complete a grow license. The cost difference: $75-$250 for occupational, $1,250 for a grow.

Expenses

Of the more egregious findings, four office chairs for $4,200, seven desk extenders for $28,000 and $10,000 a year in cell phones and plans that were not in use. The auditors Googled furniture at a more reasonable cost, but the best part is who was responsible for overcharging them in the first place: Colorado Correctional Industries, a division of the Colorado Department of Corrections.

Use of Vehicles

Overpurchasing a fleet by a dozen or so SUVs is one thing, but allowing staff to use them as company cars is something entirely different. The department is accused of misrepresenting directors as “Peace Officers” to dodge taxes, backdating required commuting authorization forms and more.

This is the MMED as it currently stands, and the agency that the Amendment 64 Task Force recommended recently to oversee the adult-use markets.