On October 1st new regulations of cannabis edibles took effect in Colorado. From now on, no edibles made in the state legally are allowed to resemble candy, with shapes like humans, animals, fruits or cartoons no longer allowed. Instead, edible makers must restrict themselves to generic shapes like circles and triangles.
Beyond that, new regulations took effect regarding edible packaging. From Herb:
Now, products must be labeled either in a font size that is at least two font sizes larger than the surrounding label text, not less than 10 point font, and be bold and enclosed within an outlined shape such as a circle or square or highlighted with a bright color such as yellow.
This new round of regulations has been in the works for a while now; they are an expansion and continuation of the regulations that came to be exactly a year ago. Those rules created the THC symbol that must now be imprinted on all edibles and edible packaging sold in the state.
“Marijuana products in shape and branding should not be enticing to children, and we want consumers to be educated about the potency of the products they are buying,” Michael Hartman, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Revenue. “These rules ensure that to be the case.”
Of course, all of this is intended to reduce the likelihood that a child will mistake a cannabis edible for a regular piece of candy. From Colorado to France, an increasing number of children are ending up in the emergency room for accidental cannabis ingestion and officials want to try and limit those situations.
But new regulations are not enough. Protecting your child from something you don’t want them to ingest should be a top priority for a parent. Parents keep their children away from things all the time: alcohol, knives, guns, household cleaning products, prescription medications, pornography. To be fair, none of those things look like a gummy bear, but the principle is the same. It is not that difficult to keep your marijuana edibles in a childproof container or keep them where children can’t reach them.
Marijuana legalization is still a very new thing and officials will be tweaking the laws for years to come in response to various situations and events. But that doesn’t absolve parents from their very important job of being a parent. It only takes a few seconds to put a cannabis edible where a child can’t access it and mistake it for something else.
