// BUSINESS INNOVATIONS //
Is Cannabis Packaging Discriminatory? Are child-safety features locking out patients as well? Bill McCall had never tried cannabis until his home state of Ohio legalized medical marijuana in 2016. McCall, 62, suffers from chronic pain and a seizure disorder but has neither mobility issues nor arthritis in his hands. However, he could not open mylar bags containing his medical cannabis. The child-safety closure keeping the baggie airtight wasn’t user-friendly, either. “The biggest problem I have was with the capsules in blister packs and foil you had to peel the backs off of. I couldn’t do it. My wife had to. There was no way to cut those out without damaging the product,” said McCall. His ultimate solution? He changed brands to one with more accessible packaging.
Not one of the 15 markets (where his products are sold) has a standard of what should be on a package. Regulations help make packaging extremely userunfriendly,” he said. While child-safety protocols on cannabis packaging vary state-to-state, there are often overlaps. For example, the package must not be able to be opened by a young child while still being accessible to elderly users. “There are a whole lot of ways to get to this point, but they add cost and unnecessary complexity,” said Driessen. That scenario irks him.
John Hartsell
McCall isn’t alone in complaining about the challenges associated with opening cannabis packaging. In a recent Facebook post, Elizabeth Simpson of Elyria, Ohio, writes, “I have difficulty opening most edible packaging, including the Incredibles.” According to Simpson, 29, that brand was “waaaaaay easier” to open in Colorado than it is in Ohio.
“A lot of users started off as patients or are patients and we’re making it more complicated for them,” he said, noting how additional materials used to manufacture child-resistant packaging adds to its cost. He laments the lack of a uniform standard across the industry relating to packaging.
Why is it more challenging to open cannabis packaging in one state than in another? Why isn’t there consistency in packaging? Is cannabis packaging discriminatory (unintentionally or not) against other-abled users or those not as agile as others?
He blames that on the lack of Chris Driessen regulation, primarily at the federal level. According to Alfredo Cernuda, President of Sir Hemp Co., which manufactures make [opening packaging] overly complex.” hemp CBD oil tinctures, marijuana packaging In Jared Mirsky’s mind, child-resistant “is not discriminatory in nature but rises as a packaging isn’t even necessary for cannabis need to temper ergonomic design versus flower. If a child (or anyone) eats cannabis liability issues.” flower, nothing will happen to them. “Weed doesn’t cannibalize in the human body unless it Complicating matters is that since cannabis is is heated up,” said Mirsky, a global cannabis not legal on the federal level, uniform rules for branding and marketing expert and founder and packaging cannot be implemented in the United CEO of Wick & Mortar. He notes concentrates States. That means each of the 37 states where don’t taste good, either. medical and/or recreational cannabis is legal promulgate their own set of rules and legalities Driessen agrees governmental regulations on governing all matters pertaining to it. cannabis packaging have gone too far. “The Nanny Government is telling us what we need Those laws, said Cernuda, “lead companies to
“There is no standard for the packaging of cannabis in the United States,” said John Hartsell, co-founder and CEO of DIZPOT, a supplier of cannabis and hemp brands nationwide and a rheumatoid arthritis sufferer himself. According to Chris Driessen, CEO of SLANG Worldwide, an industry leader of branded cannabis packaged products for consumers, “packaging is one of the banes of our existence. 54
By Tami Kamin Meyer
Cannabis & Tech Today // Fall 2021
