Leading Conservative Think Tank Calls For Federal Marijuana Labeling Standards Despite Prohibition

A top conservative think tank says the federal government needs to step up
and create a national standard for marijuana product labeling in legal
states in a way that’s consistent with tobacco—even as cannabis remains
federally prohibited.

In a new report, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) called out the
“regulatory free-for-all” for marijuana labeling that’s resulted from the
patchwork of state laws amid the federal government’s inability to adopt
regulations.

“The absence of federal policy means there is no standard nationwide
package warning for cannabis products as there is for tobacco,” it says.

Some legal states might require warning labels with information about
potential harms of marijuana use, but the inconsistency warrants
national-level guidance, Howard Husock, senior fellow in domestic policy
studies at AEI, said.

“In this regulatory free-for-all, it would make sense for some federal
entity to suggest standardized warning labels and graphics.”

The report says that, although the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has
identified 12 potential health issues related to marijuana use, no states
that have legalized cannabis “cite all those concerns.” California and
Nevada require labels to include information about seven out of 12, and
nine states “merely note that the products should be kept away from
children and avoided by pregnant women.”

“The relatively rapid move at the state level toward cannabis legalization
has occurred despite cannabis’s continued federal classification as a drug
whose dangers put it formally on a par with heroin,” AEI said, referring to
marijuana’s Schedule I status. “It is akin to allowing states to set their
own alcohol policies during Prohibition.”

“The result is a hodgepodge of warnings and public health education
programs that can alert consumers to the fact that cannabis is far from a
risk-free product,” the report says, adding that it would “make sense” in
this regulatory environment for a “federal entity” such as a the surgeon
general, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) or Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC) to recommended “standardized warning labels and graphics.”

“It is one thing to legalize the use of cannabis but another to acquiesce
to its use. Responsible governments should use their authority to
discourage cannabis use and minimize the harm that impairment can inflict
on individual users, their families, and the general public,” AEI said.

The report comes about a year after the National Institute on Drug Abuse
(NIDA) under NIH awarded researchers a $2.9 million grant to study how to
improve the efficacy of cannabis warning labels—a project involving
interviews with state regulators and online experiments designed to develop
and implement “more effective warning labels that inform people about the
risks associated with cannabis use.”

In 2023, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) urged states where
marijuana is legal to include warning labels on cannabis products that
caution against driving while under the influence. The board noted that
federal prohibition is a barrier to nationalizing such consumer education
to mitigate public safety risks, recognizing at the time that several legal
states already require such labeling, but others don’t.

Also last year, a coalition of marijuana reform organizations called on
regulators across the world to adopt a universal symbol for marijuana
products in the interest of promoting safety in the evolving cannabis
market and making it easier to facilitate interstate commerce if states
choose to enact that policy.

The groups said in a letter to regulators that there should at least be
uniformity in labeling so that people know what products contain cannabis
no matter where they’re shopping.

The International Intoxicating Cannabinoid Product Symbol (IICPS)—a yellow
triangle with an image of a cannabis leaf and black border—has already been
adopted by Montana, New Jersey, South Dakota and Vermont, while other
states like Alaska are also considering it.

Doctors for Cannabis Regulation (DFCR), which played a leading role in
developing the symbol and is spearheading the campaign for its universal
adoption, said in a press release at the time its goal was “communicating a
simple public health message,” which is: “Caution with cannabis.”

David Nathan, founder and president of DFCR, also criticized New York
regulators in an op-ed for Marijuana Moment after the state moved forward
with a more complex, individualized label for cannabis products despite
being encouraged to follow the lead of other states and adopt the universal
symbol.

The National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM)—which in 2023
adopted national standards for cannabis packaging, labeling and storage—has considered
adopting guidance calling for a universal label on marijuana products. But
last year it opted to forego that plan because members were concerned that
the body, which focuses primarily on scientific measurement, lacked the
necessary health expertise to craft an appropriate label.

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Labeling Standards Despite Prohibition appeared first on Marijuana Moment.