In an email, a commission spokesperson said the agency doesn’t comment on personnel matters.
The commission is the regulator for the state’s $7 billion legal cannabis industry. Potvin earned $121,695 last year, state records show.
Kocis, before being named as the state’s marijuana testing director in October 2022, worked at a cannabis lab in Framingham. That lab, Green Analytics, according to published reports, has come under scrutiny for inflated THC results and so-called lab shopping.
Both Potvin and Kocis’s departures were first reported Friday by Grant Smith Ellis, who runs a news website covering the cannabis industry.
Last month, Smith Ellis published a report about allegations that millions of dollars in license fees due to the commission had gone missing, and may have been stolen. The Globe couldn’t confirm the report on Saturday.
Debbie Hilton-Creek, the agency’s acting executive director and chief people officer, addressed the allegations at a commission meeting on July 19.
“I can no longer remain silent about the unconscionable treatment of our staff at the commission and the latest egregious allegation that employees are stealing is equally unconscionable,” she said, according to a recording of the meeting on YouTube.
Reached Saturday, Hilton-Creek declined to comment on Potvin or Kocis. She said she was focused on commission employees and the agency’s work.
The commission publicly addressed efforts to collect outstanding fees in a July 30 notice to applicants and license holders for marijuana establishments and medical marijuana treatment centers.
The agency said it had granted more time to 161 license holders to pay some fees, but $555,671 was still owed after the extension period had lapsed.
In a statement, the spokesperson said there have been “unsupported allegations of misconduct.”
“There is currently no evidence that suggests staff have stolen state funds,” the statement said.
The commission’s licensing staff are responsible for reviewing all adult marijuana establishment license applications, renewals, changes, as well as applications for people who wish to work in the industry, according to the agency’s most recent annual report.
The agency has received nearly 1,800 license applications since the commission was established in 2017, most of which are required for a business to begin operation.
The Globe couldn’t determine Saturday when Plotvin or Kocis left the agency. At a commission meeting last Thursday, Hilton-Creek said there were no open positions at the agency following an effort to fill more than 20 vacant roles.
She said 15 people are moving into new jobs through a combination of internal promotions and hiring and eight more people are being hired through a process that’s already underway.
Leadership of the commission has been in flux since last year when its chair, Shannon O’Brien, was suspended after an investigation alleged she made a series of racist and “culturally insensitive” remarks. O’Brien has denied the allegations.
In June, state Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro asked lawmakers to appoint a receiver to manage day-to-day operations and reimagine the “rudderless” commission.
Lawmakers have said they plan to hold public hearings this fall to discuss the commission’s structure.
David O’Brien, president and chief executive of the Massachusetts Cannabis Business Association, said Saturday that the industry wants the commission to stabilize its operations.
“We would just love some stability and predictability from the agency. There’s been way too much drama there over the last several years,” he said.
The commission’s next meeting is set for Monday, when a subcommittee searching for the agency’s next executive director plans to meet in executive session for a “virtual candidate screening,” according to the agenda.
Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com. Follow her @lauracrimaldi. Tonya Alanez can be reached at tonya.alanez@globe.com. Follow her @talanez.
