Joy Strand: Former MMCC head and Green Leaf Medicals new Executive Vice President in charge of governmental affairs

“Basically, you can’t work on something for another party and be compensated if you were working on it as a state entity,” Michael Lord of the Maryland Ethics Commision quoted by Ethan McLeod of the Baltimore Business Journal

Ethan McLeod in an excellent January 2 Baltimore Business Journal piece “Ex-medical cannabis czar joins Frederick grower and processor” quotes Michael Lord the executive director of the Maryland Ethics Commission as saying that state employees are legally forbidden from accepting paid positions that involve any “case, contract or matter” that relates directly to their previous work in government. Mr Lord, who says that the Ethics Commission is forbidden from making any comments about specific individuals none-the-less raises questions about the legality of the former MMCC Head’s new role “in charge of managing government relations” for Green Leaf Medical aka gLeaf.

I don’t know how this is going to be resolved but it is hard to see Ms. Strand’s new role as not tied directly to her old one as head of the MMCC. This would be less of a concern were we not dealing with a tightly controlled oligopoly which gives the power to both make and break fortunes in the hands of government officials rather than consumers.

Support Legal Homegrow!

Advocate for Maryland Patients to have the same rights patients in Oklahoma, Maine and Michigan. Sign and share the petition linked here. We should not have to wait another year to bi-pass the high prices, long car rides, and limited variety of our current 15 grower system.