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BOSTON — Cannabis regulators are seeking millions of dollars more from Beacon Hill, money they say is necessary to implement this spring’s sweeping overhaul of the state’s marijuana industry and simultaneously advance long-discussed plans to let adults to buy and use marijuana at the same establishment. The ask is split between two buckets: To take on the additional responsibilities this year’s law places on the Cannabis Control Commission, including making both consumer- and business-facing changes, the agency needs more than $7.9 million in additional fiscal year 2027 funding, Executive Director Travis Ahern said in an April letter to state budget writers. And the CCC is also seeking IT funds from the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security to help replace the “antiquated” licensing and registration platform known as MassCIP, according to an agency spokesperson. During a meeting last week, Ahern said the CCC is seeking funds to upgrade MassCIP as part of rolling out regulations governing sites where people could consume marijuana in social settings. Those regulations include creating three new license types, one of which Ahern said is expected to be open for applications in December. That’s the “supplemental” license available for existing marijuana businesses to allow customers to consume products they’ve purchased on-site. Commissioners said during the meeting that they are still determining when applications for the other two social consumption license types – hospitality and event organizer – are expected to open. That timing aligns with the CCC’s projections of rolling out the new licenses when the body approved social consumption regulations in December 2025, Ahern said. The agency has also assigned a “significant amount of personnel assigned to this implementation to move it as quickly as we have been,” Ahern said. “And so, in this regard, what I’d highlight again is to maintain the speed and the emphasis we have on the implementation of social consumption, while also getting into the very robust conversation we’ll have later on implementation of Chapter 65 in the regulatory process, we are going to need additional resources to maintain the pace that we’re on. And we’ll hopefully have updates for that as we get into our September meeting,” Ahern said Aug. 13, referring to the sweeping cannabis reform legislation signed in April. Most of the approximately additional $7.9 million the CCC has requested would go to “information technology development, consultant support, and the establishment of new regulatory infrastructure, including public-facing portals and data systems” along with new staff to implement the law, Ahern wrote in the April letter, which was sent the same day lawmakers shipped the industry overhaul legislation to Gov. Maura Healey’s desk. “Absent this funding, the Commission will be required to implement sweeping statutory changes without the staffing, systems, or resources necessary to do so,” Ahern wrote in the letter. “This would create immediate operational risks, including delays in implementation, an inability to meet statutory deadlines, reduced oversight capacity, and increased strain on an already constrained workforce.” In June, the CCC adopted a set of emergency regulations in order to meet a deadline embedded within the cannabis law. Those regulations were “just the beginning of a comprehensive policymaking process that will unfold over the next year,” CCC Chair Chris Harding said at the time. A CCC spokesperson told the News Service the agency “followed the standard process” of requesting a supplemental budget from the Executive Office of Administration and Finance. Each fall, the governor files a supplemental budget closing the books on the prior fiscal year. Last month, Healey filed a $100 million fiscal year 2027 supplemental budget (H 5586) that’s pending in the House Committee on Ways and Means. And several supplemental spending budgets typically arise throughout the fiscal year. Earlier this year, commissioners asked lawmakers for $32.9 million in funding for fiscal year 2027. That would have been a roughly $13 million increase over the CCC’s fiscal 2026 operating budget of $19.7 million. The agency’s request included an additional $3.88 million for the rollout of the social consumption regulations along with $2.8 million for IT costs to support licensing upgrades and replacements. The fiscal year 2027 budget allocated approximately $20.9 million for the agency.