Longtime California cannabis czar Lori Ajax stepping down

After nearly five years of overseeing the rollout of California’s statewide marijuana regulatory system, Lori Ajax is retiring.

Alex Traverso, spokesman for the California Bureau of Cannabis Control, confirmed Ajax’s resignation on Friday to Marijuana Business Daily.

Ajax informed the agency’s staff this past week of her departure, he said.

“She didn’t really give a reason other than just it feels like it’s time. Her husband retired a year or so ago. I think it just made sense,” Traverso said.

Ajax’s resignation will be effective Dec. 2, Traverso said.

Ajax was appointed in February 2016 by then-Gov. Jerry Brown to initially oversee the state’s Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation.

Her appointment came only a few months after legislators approved the first statewide regulatory system for California’s MMJ industry in the fall of 2015.

Ajax remained chief of the agency after its name was changed to the Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) after the 2016 election when voters approved recreational legalization and then oversaw the rollout of the state’s legal marketplace in January 2018.

She was retained by Gov. Gavin Newsom after he took office in January 2019.

Through her years of work, Ajax developed a reputation among many in the industry for her outreach to marijuana companies and her common appearances at business events to answer questions about state regulations and other issues – particularly from frustrated MJ company owners who were dealing with a painful transition into the regulated marketplace.

Traverso likened Ajax to “the baseball player who stays and signs autographs until everyone’s gone.”

He also noted that whoever takes over the job of running the BCC will have “huge shoes to fill.”

“She definitely did whatever she could to be accessible, to hear people, empathize with people. Whatever it took,” Traverso said.

“She was here every day for like 12 hours a day working, and that set the tone for everyone else.”

Traverso said it’s unclear whether Newsom will appoint an interim director to run the BCC.

That uncertainty stems, in part, from the BCC’s impending merger in 2021 with the other two state regulatory agencies that oversee the California cannabis industry. The new agency will be called the Department of Cannabis Control.

A spokesperson for Newsom did not immediately return an MJBizDaily request for comment.

– John Schroyer