Massachusetts: Cannabis Control Commission suspends licenses of Great Barrington retailer Farnsworth Fine Cannabis for two weeks, fines company $35,000

The Berkshire Edge

Great Barrington — At its October 8 meeting, the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) voted to suspend the Retailer and Product Manufacturer licenses of cannabis retailer Highminded, LLC, dba Farnsworth Fine Cannabis, for two weeks and fined the company $35,000.

Located at 126 Main Street, the business is owned by Alexander Farnsworth, Adam Lippes, and Brayden Farnsworth.

The business received licenses for retail sales on November 19, 2020, and received notice from CCC that it would begin operations on February 17, 2021.

The company’s website states that it is closed from November 1 to November 14 “for a holiday refresh” without mentioning the license suspension. According to commission documents, however, those are the dates of the suspension.

The final order and stipulated agreement, signed by the company’s owners and CCC, states that on February 7, 2024, a large quantity of the company’s marijuana and marijuana products was stolen from 105 Main Street in a burglary.

The company uses the small building on the property as offices, and it reported to the Great Barrington Police Department that multiple items were stolen, including “staff appreciation samples” of marijuana products.

The CCC’s final order did not list which products were stolen or their value.

While the company reported the theft to police, it did not report the theft of the “staff appreciation” samples to CCC.

After learning of the theft, CCC investigators conducted an unannounced inspection on February 9, 2024.

According to the final order and stipulated agreement:

During the inspection, investigators asked [Brayden] Farnsworth about [the theft from] 105 Main Street. He explained that it is an office space [the company] utilizes and later explained that [the company] had kept staff appreciation samples of marijuana products at the location.

[Brayden] Farnsworth further explained that [the company] sold marijuana products to employees as customers, and then the employee [sic] gifted the marijuana products back to the owners to be taken over to 105 Main Street and stored with other samples as part of its staff appreciation program.

In addition to taking marijuana products to 105 Main Street, owners and employees also took marijuana products to 118 Main Street for temporary storage.

The agreement states that the company’s properties at 105 and 118 Main Street “are not included as part of the premises authorized by the commission for [the company] to operate or store marijuana products.”

[The company] did not track any of the marijuana products stored off-premises in Metrc, the Commission’s designated Seed-to-sale Electronic Tracking system, and employee purchases were not noted or identified in Metrc.

[The company] did not have a written operating procedure for its staff appreciation program or the process described by [Brayden] Farnsworth at the time of the inspection. A written operating procedure was later provided to the Commission.

According to [the company’s] Metrc records from February 17, 2021 to February 9, 2024, there are 1,502 sales receipts for marijuana products with a total transaction price of $1 or less, averaging approximately $0.12 per transaction.

After the inspection, CCC issued a Notice of Deficiency to the company.

On January 22, 2025, CCC issued a bulletin that reiterated the requirement for licensees to have and follow standard operating procedures relative to vendor samples, quality control, and employee discount programs.

According to the agreement:

Prior to CCC’s bulletin, from February 9, 2024, to October 1, 2025, [the company] issued 796 sales receipts for marijuana products at discount prices.

On October 2, 2025, Commission investigators conducted an unannounced inspection at [the company’s] facility.

During the inspection, investigators spoke with [Alexander] Farnsworth, [Brayden] Farnsworth, and other employees regarding [the company’s] staff appreciation program and discounted sales.

Investigators learned that staff appreciation samples are marijuana products sent to [the company] from other licensees that [the company] sells to employees for discounted amounts.

Investigators further learned that employees complete [sic] a form outlining their experience after purchasing staff appreciation samples.

Investigators were told that the employee discount policy is ‘cost plus an additional 20 percent off’.

Investigators reviewed security footage from July 26 to July 29, 2025, that captured certain discounted sales and determined that the marijuana products were sold to [Alexander] Farnsworth, [Brayden] Farnsworth, and other employees.

In the security footage, [Alexander] Farnsworth, [Brayden] Farnsworth, and other employees can be seen taking marijuana products to the parking lot and towards 118 Main Street. However, [the company’s] cameras no longer capture video directed at 118 Main Street.

When asked about these transactions, investigators were told that those marijuana products were close to expiration, so owners decided to purchase the products instead of wasting and used an executive code to apply an employee discount.

Investigators spoke to [Alexander] Farnsworth separately about [the company’s] discounting practices. He said that some customers can purchase marijuana products for discounted prices.

[The company’s] policy of selling marijuana products for discounted prices as described by [Alexander] Farnsworth and other employees was not contained in any of [the company’s] Standard Operating Procedures.

When asked about discounted marijuana products, [Alexander] Farnsworth said that [the company] stopped that practice after the Commission issued the bulletin, but when asked about recent sales of heavily discounted marijuana products, [Alexander] Farnsworth said those items were close to expiration and rather than wasting the marijuana products they were sold at a discount to the owners to get the products out of the store.

[Brayden] Farnsworth also confirmed that [the company’s] employee discount policy is ‘cost plus an additional 20 percent off’ and that employees can purchase staff appreciation samples and marijuana products that fail to meet internal quality control assessments at a reduced price.

[The company’s] employee discount policy as described by [Alexander] Farnsworth, [Brayden] Farnsworth, and employees was not included in any of [the company’s] Standard Operating Procedures.

[Brayden] Farnsworth stated that [the company] stopped its prior practice of selling marijuana products to employees on behalf of [the company] and that any large quantities of discounted marijuana products were for marijuana products close to expiration and were sold to the owners.

On October 8, 2025, in response to a Request for Information regarding certain Penny Sales of marijuana products, [the company] stated that those customers were given a ‘discretion, courtesy discount’ of up to 99 percent that was authorized by either the on-duty manager, management, or ownership;

[The company] does not have an [Standard Operating Procedure] describing how it applies a ‘discretion, courtesy discount’.

According to [the company’s] Metrc records, from October 2, 2025, to January 30, 2026, [the company] completed 78 additional discounted sales.

On March 31, CCC issued an Order to Show Cause seeking a financial penalty for noncompliant operations. The company and CCC negotiated an agreement from June to September.

According to the final order and stipulated agreement, CCC found that the company violated various state regulations for its practice of “distributing quality control and vendor samples, and selling discounted marijuana products to employees and owners, as well as offering arbitrary ‘discretionary courtesy discounts’ of up to 99 percent off marijuana products to customers without written operating procedures governing or tracking the application of the discounts.

CCC also found that the company violated general law for storing marijuana products and conducting related activities at “unauthorized and unsecure” locations, including at 105 and 118 Main Street.

The commission also found that the company violated a regulation when it failed to notify CCC of the February 7, 2024, theft of marijuana products within 24 hours.

However, as stated in the final order and stipulated agreement:

[The company] neither admits nor denies the findings set forth [in the order], inclusive of all subparagraphs. [The company] enters into this agreement solely for the purposes of settlement. This agreement shall neither be considered an admission of liability nor a violation of law for any purpose, or as evidence supporting the allegations of the Commission.

According to the order, $30,000 of the fine is set to go to the CCC’s Marijuana Regulation Fund, while $5,000 will be donated to the Cannabis Social Equity Trust Fund.

The company agreed to a one-year probationary period as part of the agreement.