NPR reports
The constitutional amendment that legalized recreational marijuana in Missouri included a provision that labels and packaging for marijuana-related products “shall not be made to be attractive to children.” When the rules go into effect July 30, cannabis packages sold in the state must have limited colors and can’t resemble commercially-sold candy.
For decades, there’s been a global movement urging “plain packaging” on tobacco products — or packaging with limited colors and frills — after numerous studies found it makes cigarettes less appealing to young people.
Missouri will soon be a testing ground to see if plain packaging has the same impact for recreational marijuana.
When voters passed the constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana, it included a provision that labels and packaging for marijuana-related products, “shall not be made to be attractive to children.”
Missouri will become one of few states that require plain packaging in the adult-use cannabis market, according to the Network for Public Health Law. The others include Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
The packaging requirements are part of Missouri’s new cannabis regulation rules that go into effect on July 30.
Amy Moore, director of Missouri’s cannabis regulation under the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, recently said the approach “ensures the health and safety information is the focus of the packaging.”
And it diminishes the appeal to children.
“This approach to packaging is familiar to all of us,” Moore said, during a legislative committee hearing in early May. “You think about the cereal aisle versus tobacco packaging or over-the-counter medicines…I can tell you my five-year-old’s favorite color right now is rainbow.”
Like many states, Missouri has seen an increase in the number of child poisoning cases involving marijuana edibles since recreational marijuana became legal, said Julie Weber, director of the Missouri Poison Center.
For cases of children five and under, it’s increased from seven cases in 2018 to 125 cases in 2022.
The constitution also says that no marijuana facility can sell edible marijuana-infused candy in shapes or packages that are attractive to children or that are easily confused with commercially sold candy that does not contain marijuana.
Penalties include fines of up to $5,000 and a loss of a business license.
When Missouri regulators proposed plain packaging for cannabis products this spring, it caused an uproar from the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association.
Marijuana businesses have already invested “many millions” in packaging designs, the association wrote in a letter to lawmakers in early May. And they did so because “attractive, interesting, and attention-grabbing packaging is essential to effectively advertise and promote marijuana product sales.”
They also argued that the state already requires child-resistant containers.
However, Moore said those companies knew it was coming after voters passed Amendment 3 last fall. The requirements regarding children’s safety are more stringent than what was included in the constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana in 2018.
“We have to notice that,” she said, “and say, ‘Apparently we’re to do more, we’re to do better for children and for health.”
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