DENVER, Colorado — A ban on gummy bears and other edible marijuana products shaped like animals and fruit takes effect this month. This change aimed at decreasing the chances that small children will mistake them for just their regular favorite treat.
This was in accordance and a follow-up to House Bill 1436, which was signed into effect in June 2016. It focused mainly on THC-infused gummy candy. Specifically, it was for THC-infused gummies that looked like regular, wholesome HFCS-infused gummies. According to the bill, Governor Hickenlooper and concerned parents in the state are worried that weed gummy candy that could potentially attract children.
Earlier this month, California also bans gummy bear-shaped edibles for the same reason: to protect the kids from accidental cannabis ingestion.This switch is less dramatic for Colorado's cannabis companies than adapting to last fall's rollout of exhaustive requirements for labeling, packaging and stamps on individual edible marijuana products.
Same concerns motivated this move. This is not only about children popping tasty-looking products into their mouths and getting sick but also adults accidentally overdoing it when they consume edible pot.
House Bill 1436 fights this disturbing and dangerous trend. Backers of this bill hope to protect children in their state; stopping the production of this colorful, appealing yet weed-infused snack.
Moreover, this is not just some hunch. People actually call Colorado's poison control hotline thousands of times each year when kids swallow household cleaners and prescription medications, far more often than they call about marijuana products.
Kids are, well, kids. They are usually drawn to brightly colored and whimsically shaped candy. This presents a unique problem in states, like Colorado, with legal recreational cannabis. Children can accidentally eat pot gummies and landing themselves in the emergency room because of it.
“Anything that can look like candy is more enticing to kids,” said Larry Wolk, the state health agency's executive director.
However, there are some loopholes.
Colorado Department of Revenue continues to allow cannabis gummies that are made in geometric shapes, like stars and triangles. Gummies can also have a fruity flavor, as long as they don’t actually depict a fruit.
House Bill 1436 took effect this weekend, on October 1st. Dispensaries will no longer be able to legally sell your favorite creature-shaped candy.
It’s unclear if these will affect the sale of cbd gummies in the state. After all, the bill just targeted THC-infused gummies with animal, fruit or people shapes.
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