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The proposed rules would allow for bright colors and remove the mandate for including THC potency.
Rhode Island marijuana regulators are considering rolling back the state’s strict cannabis product packaging rules, which currently only allow for simple plain colors including white, black, gray and navy blue.
During a meeting on July 30, the state Cannabis Control Commission was given new options to allow brands to use a wider variety of colors on packaging and to help differentiate their products from the crowded field of THC-infused goods, the Rhode Island Current reported. The proposal would maintain a ban on neon colors and anything deemed attractive to minors, but it would give a good deal of new flexibility to cannabis companies.
The idea was the brain child of the 18-member Cannabis Advisory Board, which told the commission that such a move would give companies “more branding freedom.”
There are 24 new pending cannabis retail business permits awaiting the board’s finalization of the rules, which has to happen before the new licenses can be awarded, the Current reported. As of August, Rhode Island had just seven medical marijuana dispensaries, five of which were authorized to sell adult-use cannabis to those 21 and older. The market launched in December 2022.
“The commission expects to present regulations by subject matter at future public meetings over the next two months,” Matt Touchette, a spokesperson for the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation, which includes the Office of Cannabis Regulation, told the Current.
The new rules also could include a major change in labeling requirements, removing the mandate to include THC potency levels for products. Instead, products would be required to have a “cannabinoid profile” label, if that proposal is also adopted.
Cannabis packaging and labeling requirements all vary from state to state, with most focused on avoiding appeal to children. But to underscore the gamut of regulatory approaches: Just as Rhode Island is considering liberalizing its rules, Missouri is poised to go the opposite direction.
