“We’re trying to give the people the ability to brand the product, which gives them the ability to differentiate themselves in the market.”

By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Currant

Drive along the highway and you’ll see plenty of big, attention-grabbing billboards with bright colors advertising Rhode Island’s few licensed cannabis retailers. But go inside one of those stores and you’ll be met with a sea of neutral colors: white, gray or black. Occasionally, there’s navy blue.

Those neutral colors are by design, mostly to ensure products are not attractive to children who might accidentally ingest them. But state regulators may allow for some color in the future as the Rhode Island Cannabis Control Commission ponders changes to its packaging regulations.

Commissioners were presented with the idea during their July 30 meeting, where the three-member panel decided to add the language to its ongoing draft regulations that will govern the state’s fledgling cannabis sector. Other proposals include placing the name of the lab that tested the cannabis, the use of a QR code (with commission approval), and a list of cannabinoids that make up the product.

Allowing color “provides for more branding freedom for licensees” and came at the recommendation of the commission’s 18-member Cannabis Advisory Board, according to the July presentation.

“We’re trying to give the people the ability to brand the product, which gives them the ability to differentiate themselves in the market,” advisory board member Stuart Procter, co-founder and lab director for cannabis testing facility PureVita Labs in West Warwick, said in an interview.

The commission was formed last June, just a little over a year after recreational cannabis was legalized. Commissioners spent last summer on a listening tour, hearing the concerns of community members and cannabis workers, which include ensuring the commission prioritizes social equity measures.

Two dozen pending retail licenses cannot be handed out until the new rules are finalized, which means a longer wait for cultivators looking for new places to sell their products.

“The Commission expects to present regulations by subject matter at future public meetings over the next two months and in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act,” said Matt Touchette, a spokesperson for the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation, which includes the Office of Cannabis Regulation. “We are also working closely with the Cannabis Advisory Board to make sure certain topics receive adequate attention and feedback.”

The plain package of the cannabis industry draws upon the best practices made on tobacco products, which aim to make cigarettes less appealing to young people. Though it has only been a recent development for THC products, said Stephanie Forschner-Dancause, director of the certificate program in cannabis studies at the University of Rhode Island.

Most early adopters, she said, were all in on letting brands sell products wrapped with bright colors and vibrant artwork. But as more states have legalized cannabis, most newcomers have opted to join the plain packaging train—including the Ocean State, which legalized recreational cannabis in 2022.

“Now Rhode Island is sort of backtracking,” said Forschner-Dancause, who also serves as a non-voting member of the Cannabis Advisory Board.

That’s not to say the proposed regulations would make Rhode Island the lone state in New England to have colorful packaging. Massachusetts allows any color so long as it isn’t neon in appearance. Maine and Vermont don’t regulate color and only mandate that cannabis products aren’t made to appeal to people under the age of 21.

Connecticut allows for single-color, opaque packaging with a black and white label. But that’s only for flowers and topical products, as packaging for edibles must be black and white.

Keeping products safe

“That’s sort of the smart way,” Forschner-Dancause said of Connecticut’s rule. “It seems like edibles are where we’re getting most of the accidental ingestions.”

But Procter, who chairs the advisory board’s Public Health Subcommittee, said the likelihood of a child consuming a product purchased at a licensed retailer isn’t very high.

“Most accidental consumption doesn’t come from the regulated market, it comes from the unregulated one,” he said.

In 2022, Rhode Island made two reports involving edible cannabis to America’s Poison Centers—representing 0.03 percent of the 5,149 poison control calls made that year. Nationally, 3,358 people (a third under the age of 6) consumed edibles and called a poison center.

These calls focused only on the ingestion of delta-8 THC products, which are an unregulated but supposedly less potent cannabis compound sold at retailers. Delta-8 is made by chemically altering the underlying compounds of non-psychoactive CBD—which is legal at the federal level—into a substance that can get someone high, Forschner-Dancause explained.

These products tend to be packaged as candy or colorful snacks and have almost identical labels to existing brands like Cheetos, Starburst and Skittles.

“And then they’re selling that in gas stations,” said Forschner-Dancause.

States such as Virginia and Rhode Island have taken steps to tamp down on this market, but Procter said unsafe products will manage to find their way to consumers.

“Even though the logic would dictate more people go toward the legitimate market, I can assure you the black market is a huge concern,” he said. “This is the decision you have to make: for the regulated market or the black market? You have to keep your mind focused on the regulated market, where packages would still be very bland compared to a Skittles package.”

The state’s existing rules mandate 1-inch-by-1-inch THC symbols be placed on the package, maintain a child-resistant seal and prohibit cartoonish imagery that could appeal to kids. And while color would be allowed under the proposed regulations, Rhode Island Cannabis Administrator Michelle Reddish said the use of neon would still be prohibited.

“The label and package together, they represent a unit,” Reddish told Rhode Island Current. “And [we’re] ensuring that unit has measures and guardrails in place.”

More power to the consumer

State regulators are also considering eliminating the THC potency from a product’s package and instead list its cannabinoid profile (the chemical makeup), which experts say helps paint a more accurate picture of what a customer buys.

Massachusetts regulation mandates total cannabinoid content be on a label, but a breakdown of what’s in a product is not required. Other New England states do not require cannabinoid profiles in their governing cannabis rules.

The existing practice for cultivators and retailers is to price and sell products based on their THC potency, which Procter said is fine if you’re simply looking to get high. But for the more discerning consumers who want a different cannabis experience, a list of strains would be more helpful.

“Some people might look for a more balanced CBD:THC ratio,” said Forschner-Dancause.

Because the industry is so focused on potency, cultivators are forced to toss out some of their more diverse products, Procter said.

“It’s almost like a self-fulfilling, destroying prophecy,” he said. “As that number pushes up and more and more products can’t reach the benchmark, the quality products meant for human consumption are falling away.”

And certain cannabinoids might have some therapeutic effects for consumers who want to use hemp as medicine. Any health claims would require approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is not likely as cannabis is still classified as a Schedule I drug under federal law. In May, the Justice Department proposed reclassifying it as Schedule III which include drugs like ketamine, testosterone and Tylenol. But that change still has yet to take effect—with the initial hearing by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration scheduled for December.

Hemp can produce over 140 different cannabinoids, almost all of which derive from CBG (cannabigerol), which is what the plant initially makes. Much like CBD, CBG has no intoxicating effect, but Forschner-Dancause said it is being studied for how it can potentially treat anxiety or help people go to sleep.

THCV, sometimes referred to as “diet weed,” has less potency than your typical delta-9 product and has been used by some people to reduce appetite. Researchers have also been studying how the compound can treat type 2 diabetes, Forschner-Dancause said.

How those chemicals are made all depend on how plants are bred, where they are grown, soil conditions and humidity.

“It’s quite the chemist, this plant,” she said. “And right now a consumer isn’t seeing that on the package.”

As regulators mull these new requirements, Procter said his lab plans to introduce a point of sale system at Mother Earth Wellness in Pawtucket over the next month that will list strains with similar chemical makeups (and potential effects) — that way budtenders can quickly make recommendations in case certain products aren’t available.

“Getting more information helps educate the public,” Procter said. “It’s a step process and we’re here for the long haul.”

This story was first published by Rhode Island Currant.

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Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.