SPRINGFIELD — Advocates and applicants for marijuana licenses urged the state’s Cannabis Control Commission on Thursday to improve regulations in Massachusetts, including a plea to give the small entrepreneurs and farmers a better chance to compete for licenses.

The commission conducted the public hearing at the Moot Court at Western New England University’s School of Law, to hear comments from dozens of people on the last day of the formal public comment period. The commission plans to meet in September to consider amendments in regulations related to medical marijuana and adult use marijuana.

The issues raised by speakers Thursday ranged from concerns about a proposed requirement for drivers to wear body cameras when making home deliveries to concerns about large, multi-state corporations squeezing out opportunities over farmers and other small, local business entities.

In addition, speakers said the current application process is too long, complicated, and favorable to large businesses.

Commission Chairman Steven Hoffman said that all submitted comments and hearing comments will be reviewed before decisions are made. There was also a hearing Wednesday in Boston.

Lisa Gustavsen, and her husband John Moore, of Roaring Glen Farms, of Conway, were among speakers who urged the commission to help the farmer in dealing with a prolonged, difficult application process and competing with large, multi-state companies.

Gustavsen said her husband has been farming in Massachusetts for more than 40 years. They saw the marijuana industry as a means to use their talents to help others and improve their lives financially for an occupation they love.

Their application process began in October of 2018, and the subsequent delays caused them to miss this summer season, with the outlook for "many more months," Gustavsen said. The obstacles can and should be remedied, she said.

“We feel the regulations have been rigged against us,” Gustavsen said.

Large multi-state cannabis businesses have moved ahead of them after being given recreational marijuana dispensary priority status, she said.

“John and I are begging you to fix this problem and fix it now,” Gustavsen said.

James Jasper III, of Springfield, describing himself as a craft cannabis cultivator, urged the commission to promote greenhouse cultivation of marijuana.

“The real crux is that greenhouses use the glorious natural free sun,” Jasper said. “As prices go down, greenhouse production will go up. In this greenhouse future, municipalities will not limit cultivation to industrial zones but welcome us to the small farms to grow under sun.”

As long as cultivation is zoned industrial, “that is the kind of weed you’re going to get — industrial — how much Monsanto do you want in your flower?” Jasper said.

Regarding the proposed requirement for body cameras, multiple speakers said they see it as an invasion of privacy. A person receiving a delivery would rightfully not want the delivery and themselves recorded, speakers said.

Philip Smith, co-owner of Freshly Baked Co., which received a permit for marijuana in Taunton, and who is planning home deliveries, was among the opponents of the cameras calling it “an invasion of privacy.”

In addition, Smith said he is concerned that current draft regulations require delivery companies to work with “brick and mortar” dispensaries.

That "risks driving more businesses into already established corporate entities and shutting out micro companies, co-ops and farmers who struggle for customer access if they can't get their products on dispensary shelves."

"Home delivery is the saving grace for the little guy and will be the way they survive not only locally but on the federal level," Smith said.

He urged as one solution to allow approved manufacturers, cultivators, micro companies, co-ops and farmers the ability to deliver straight from their facility. He also suggested the companies the option of picking up product from wholesale distributors and third-party transportation companies.

Sanford Lewis, representing the Northeast Sustainable Cannabis Project in Amherst, said the commission should prioritize policies that protect the climate from significant energy use by the marijuana industry. There is too much flexibility in current regulations, and more must be done to support sun-grown, organic and regenerative cannabis, he said.

"Current practices and amendments remain on a collision course with climate change," Lewis said. "I'm not surprised that the commission hasn't prioritized climate change relative to all the other important challenges that you have, but I believe that much more needs to be done."

Ellen Moore, a director with the Massachusetts Growers Advocacy Council, said there are recreational marijuana dispensaries that are getting medical use priority licensing. Those companies then do not open operations to medical patients, and are "slowing down the processes of micro licensing" for cultivation and manufacturing, she said.

“Shame on you for allowing those dispensaries not open and operating to have that priority status when you have the power not to do that,” Moore said.