BOSTON (WGGB/WSHM) – Testimony was heard Wednesday at the State House from the Massachusetts Cannabis Coalition and its supporters. The hearing, before a joint committee of lawmakers, was aimed at current state policies for the industry and potential changes to prevent future problems.

One of the people that testified was Laura Bruneau, the mother of Lorna McMurrey, who was working at a now-closed Holyoke dispensary at the time of her death. Wednesday’s hearing marked the first time Bruneau had spoken out since her daughter died. “Lorna was my world and I have no world anymore,” she said.

McMurrey, 27, died in January 2022 while working as a cannabis cultivation employee for the now-closed Trulieve in Holyoke. Trulieve has since closed all three of its Massachusetts facilities. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigated and fined Trulieve, which resulted in all three of their Massachusetts dispensaries closing.  “My daughter started working at a cannabis facility in 2021. The facility had locked doors, video cameras, and no windows and, when she collapsed, they wouldn’t even let the first responders go in and save her,” Bruneau added.

McMurrey’s mother gave emotional testimony regarding House Bill 194, which aims to establish a Department of Workplace and Consumer Safety within the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission. She gave insight into the events that lead up to her daughter’s death. “On November, 9, 2021, Lorna was working in a small room with other workers, grinding and rolling cannabis materials. On that day, Lorna experienced her first occupational asthma attack. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital. The next day, she went back to work,” Bruneau explained.

Just eight weeks later, Bruneau said her daughter had her second and final occupational asthma attack. McMurrey died in the hospital after she was having trouble breathing at work, after inhaling cannabis dust while packaging pre-rolls. “After three agonizing days in the hospital, I watched my daughter take her last breath,” she recalled.

Now, Bruneau is asking the Massachusetts House of Representatives to pass a bill that she feels will help keep workers and consumers safe. She points out that her daughter’s case is not an isolated event and added that cannabis safety protocols are lagging behind the rapid industry growth, which is why she’s pushing for the house to pass Bill 194 to create a safety commission within the CCC.

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