You know those Wile E. Coyote-looking marijuana edibles that popped up when Coloradans legalized pot? Marijuana remains legal, but reefer edibles shaped like humans, animals or fruit are not.
New state regulations now ban them.
Also banned are edible marijuana-infused products that resemble or contain characteristics of a realistic animal or fruit, including artistic, caricature, cartoon characters or fictional humans.
Mike Hartman, executive director for the Colorado Department of Revenue, said the new regulations reflect what the public says it wants: public safety and potency labels on pot.
“Marijuana products in shape and branding should not be enticing to children,” Hartman said. “We want consumers to be educated about the potency of the products they are buying, and these rules ensure that to be the case.”
Calls to marijuana retailers all over Eagle County found that none of them had any of the now-illegal edibles in stock.
In fact, most have not had any for most of this year. They said they started phasing them out late last year, when they learned the new regulations were coming.
No dip in Demand
The new regulations did not create a dip in demand, state officials say.
Colorado’s Department of Revenue reports sales have continued to surge across the state.
In 2014, Colorado dispensaries sold $32.5 million in medical marijuana ($203,060 in Eagle County) and $14 million in recreational marijuana.
Colorado’s potency labeling requirements also changed when the rest of the regulations did in early October.
Potency must be now listed in bold font or highlighted and in larger text than the surrounding product text.
Colorado limits the amount of THC in marijuana edibles to 100 milligrams and 10 milligrams per serving.
How this Started
In 2014, Dr. Larry Wolk, a pediatrician and Colorado’s chief medical officer, called for the ban on human and cartoon-shaped edibles. Wolk’s call followed a spike in marijuana incident calls to the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center in 2014. The Colorado Legislature passed House Bill (HB) 1436 in April 2016.
The bill is designed to help keep children from mistakenly eating edible marijuana products shaped like gummy bears, fruit snacks or other edibles shaped like animals or people.
Colorado was the first of eight states to legalize recreational marijuana, followed by Washington State, Alaska, Oregon, California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada.
Medical marijuana has been legal in Colorado for 14 years.
