The California Department of Cannabis Control may be less than a year old, but so far the newly formed regulatory department has, among other things, successfully consolidated the state’s three previous cannabis regulatory agencies into a single set of regulators, launched a $100 million grant program to support the transition of businesses into annual licensure and served or assisted on more than 100 search warrants targeting unlicensed activity.
Even for an experienced regulator like director Nicole Elliott, it’s been a busy half-year.
“We really hit the ground running,” she says with a laugh.
Elliott was appointed head of the new agency in July by Governor Gavin Newsom, for whom she previously served as senior cannabis advisor.
Elliott says the priorities for the Department of Cannabis Control include “doubling down” on enforcement in an attempt to rein in California’s “enormous amount of (illegal) activity,” with a specific focus on bad actors that steal water or other resources to support their operations. She also looks forward to combining the three different software platforms for licensing and creating a strategic plan for the department, all while trying to keep pace with an industry that continues to innovate and evolve at a rapid pace.
“What we’re really doing right now is looking at those major needs we know are going to be multi-year processes and starting to get the ball rolling on those,” she says, but asks for patience from the industry. “Just getting consolidation done took 18 months of effort and thousands of staff hours on top of their existing jobs. It takes a lot of work behind the scenes to make it look as if it takes no work.”
— Brian Beckley