Massachusetts State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg’s office announced last week that Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) Chairwoman Shannon O’Brien has been suspended from her position and placed on paid leave.

The treasurer’s office has not disclosed the reason for O’Brien’s ousting, according to an NBC Boston report.

Goldberg tapped O’Brien, a former state treasurer, to head the CCC in September 2022, after former Chairman Steve Hoffman resigned earlier last year.

In the weeks following O’Brien’s appointment, the CCC grappled with her personal and financial stake in a provisionally licensed cannabis business, Greenfield Greenery, which at the time was awaiting final licensure from regulators.

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It also came to light last year that O’Brien was listed as an “adviser” on Charlemont FarmWorks’ cannabis cultivation business license application.

In a statement at the time, O’Brien said, “Out of an abundance of caution, to avoid even the appearance of conflict of interest, I will recuse myself from any deliberations or votes regarding Charlemont or Greenfield Greenery businesses.”

O’Brien was later cleared of any wrongdoing, NBC Boston reported, but she came under fire again in July, when she announced that Shawn Collins, who has been the CCC’s executive director since the commission’s inception in 2017, planned to resign from his role at the end of the year and wanted to take family leave before stepping down.

O’Brien said the situation with Collins placed the commission “in crisis” as regulators worked to complete their latest revisions to Massachusetts’ cannabis regulations. Collins, meanwhile, denied that the CCC was “in crisis” and disputed O’Brien’s claims that he planned to leave his role, according to NBC Boston.

Five Massachusetts legislators urged their colleagues Sept. 18 to take a closer look at the CCC, NBC Boston reported. In a nine-page letter, the lawmakers said the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy should open its own oversight hearing to investigate publicly reported issues within the commission or advance legislation to launch an independent internal audit unit within the regulatory body.

The lawmakers also asked their colleagues to investigate the reason behind O’Brien’s suspension, NBC Boston reported, as well as find out who is covering her responsibilities in her absence and what legislative action might help the situation.