Information on Fine Cannabis Confections and Producers of Rare Flowers
CREAM of the Crop
Feds crack down on companies marketing weed edibles in kid-friendly packaging
Edible cannabis products sold in packaging that closely resembles kids' snacks such as Doritos chips and Oreo cookies are deceptive and could pose a health risk to children, the Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday.
The FTC and U.S. Food and Drug Administration are jointly demanding that companies that use such marketing practices immediately stop and change their products' packaging to make clear that their contents contain tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the chemical in marijuana that makes people feel high.
"Marketing edible THC products that can be easily mistaken by children for regular foods is reckless and illegal," Samuel Levine, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. "Companies must ensure that their products are marketed safely and responsibly, especially when it comes to protecting the well-being of children."
The FTC and FDA have sent cease and desist letters to six companies they say are selling so-called Delta-8 THC products in packaging that imitates food often consumed by children. That poses a health danger and could violate a federal law that bars unfair or deceptive acts in commerce, the agencies allege.
"Children are more vulnerable than adults to the effects of THC, with many who have been sickened and even hospitalized after eating 'edibles' containing it. That's why we're issuing warnings to several companies selling copycat food products containing Delta-8 THC, which can be easily mistaken for popular foods that are appealing to children and can make it easy for a young child to ingest in very high doses without realizing it," FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a statement.
The agencies ordered the following companies to change their packaging:
Delta Munchies LLC
Exclusive Hemp Farms
North Carolina Hemp Exchange
Dr. Smoke
Nikte's Wholesale
The Haunted Vapor Room
According to the FTC, Dr. Smoke sells THC-infused "Doritos" that look nearly identical to Doritos Nacho Cheese Flavored Tortilla Chips. Both foods' packaging uses the Doritos name and triangle logo, and images of the tortilla chips.
In the letter, the FDA said it's concerned the company's products appeal to children and could confuse consumers as they "mimic well-known snack food brands by using similar brand names, logos or pictures on packaging."
"Therefore, with these products there is a risk of unintended consumption of the Delta-8 THC ingredient by consumers," the letter reads.
Dr. Smoke did not immediately reply to CBS MoneyWatch's request for comment.
The FTC also took aim at a THC-containing cookie closely resembling Nabisco Oreos, called "Stoneo" cookies.
Federal regulators warned a seller of the product, North Carolina Hemp Exchange, that "Stoneo Oreo Cookies Delta-8 THC" violate the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
The company's manager, Diane Becker, told CBS MoneyWatch that it immediately removed four products from store shelves, as well as its website, after receiving the FDA's warning letter.
"We understood their concern about the packaging of those particular products and relayed their concerns to the vendor that sold the products to us," Becker said.
The FTC also urged consumers of cannabis edibles to keep them separate from other foods, to child-proof cabinets and drawers where edibles are stored, and to completely reseal the packaging after it has been opened.
CBS interactive / Moneywatch / July 5, 2023 - Feds crack down on companies marketing weed edibles in kid-friendly packaging
https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/weed-edibles-kid-friendly-packaging-doritos/?intcid=CNM-00-10abd1h
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State AGs urge Congress to clamp down on ‘copycat’ marijuana edibles
Nearly two dozen state attorneys general from across the U.S. signed a letter to congressional leaders this week urging lawmakers to crack down on marijuana edibles brands that imitate popular mainstream candies.
It’s a practice that has been going on for years in the legal marijuana industry.
The letter, signed by 23 attorneys general, was sent to the heads of both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.
The AGs wrote that they’re “gravely concerned about the dangers of copycat tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) edibles in our communities, particularly the risk they pose to our children.”
“Congress should immediately enact legislation authorizing trademark holders of well-known and trusted consumer packaged goods to hold accountable those malicious actors who are using those marks to market illicit copycat THC edibles to children,” the letter notes while blaming “illicit operators” for the “growing problem.”
The letter cites several examples of imitation marijuana edibles that played on popular mainstream candies and snacks – Oreos cookies, Doritos chips and Nerds candy, for example – and noted that children in multiple states have been hospitalized after mistaking the THC-infused products for normal food.
Signatories included AGs from Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Washington state.
Mjbizdaily.com - State AGs urge Congress to clamp down on ‘copycat’ marijuana edibles June 24th 2022
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Cannabis edibles are now legal: Everything you need to know
TORONTO -- New regulations for cannabis edibles and topicals came into effect Thursday, with products expected to reach store shelves in December.
WHAT HAPPENS ON THURSDAY?
Beginning Thursday, Oct. 17, licensed producers can begin submitting their edible and topical products to Health Canada. Those products will then be subjected to a 60-to-90-day approval and procurement process.
In other words, Thursday is simply one of the first hurdles for edibles to reach the legal Canadian market. A Health Canada press release said it’s created a “strict legal framework to regulate and restrict access to cannabis keeping it out of the hands of youth, and profits out of the pockets of criminals and organized crime.”
WHEN AND WHERE CAN I BUY EDIBLES?
Well, it depends. Because of the aforementioned approval process, products couldn’t hit the legal market until mid-December -- at the earliest.
On top of that, provinces will each be allowed to further regulate the products. Depending on where you live, new products can be available in licensed cannabis retail stores, Crown companies such as the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC), and online.
As to whether gummies or beverages will come out first, Alanna Sokic, senior consultant for Global Public Affairs, told CTVNews.ca said that will depend on the focus of individual companies and provinces.
“I would say that B.C. and Quebec tend to take a more robust and certainly more aggressive public health approach to regulating industries such as cannabis,” she said.
And despite the wide variety of products available in the U.S. market, many licensed producers have been concentrating on certain products such as gummies which they get on the market earlier on.
Health Canada further explained that licensed vendors and producers will “need time to become familiar with and prepare to comply with the new rules.”
IS THERE A RISK TO CHILDREN?
The restrictions on where people can buy or ingest edibles will be largely the same as combustibles. Fabiani-Carter explained these could include being unable to buy cannabis beverages at a bar or eating a pot brownie in a public space.
Although, monitoring this could prove difficult, particularly because of these products’ physical similarity to non-cannabis counterparts. Health Canada also warns that it is still illegal to transport cannabis or cannabis-infused products across the Canadian border.
Back in June, Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said, “I encourage adult Canadians who choose to consume cannabis to remember to store it safely out of the reach of children and youth.” Health Canada also said edibles should be designed to be unappealing to young people, but still has not stipulated which colours, flavours or shapes would be allowed.
Sokic elaborated the majority of products will have “very plain” packaging, the now-standard THC symbol, health warnings and the levels of THC or CBD. “It’ll have a very sterile look to it.”
The government of Canada also warned users to avoid eating cannabis edibles with nicotine, alcohol, other drugs or health products and to not drive while impaired.
“The amended regulations are the next step in our process to reduce the risks to public health and safety from edible cannabis,” Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction Bill Blair said in the same release.
WHAT’S THE BUSINESS IMPACT?
While the rollout of initial cannabis products has been rocky at times, the pot market has proven to be quite lucrative. But edibles are expected to quickly overtake the market now that they have been legalized.
Since the first wave of legalization, 11 per cent of Canadians say they already consume edibles with 13 per cent expected to buy legal edibles. A recent Deloitte report suggests that edibles and alternatives will be worth $2.7 billion a year in Canada -- making up 60 per cent of the legal cannabis market.
Tilray’s Fabiani-Carter explained this is because “people are moving away from combustible forms of consumption.”
WILL EDIBLES BE AVAILABLE ACROSS ALL OF CANADA?
No. Cannabis edibles such as pot brownies, candy or baked goods won’t be available in Quebec.
Quebec's junior health minister Lionel Carmant told CTV Montreal in July that “the first thing we need to take care is our public health before economical issues.”
With this in mind, Quebec will permit some products that don’t appeal to children such as edible cannabis oil and butter. Carmant argued topical creams -- used for medicinal use -- should only be prescribed by doctors.
Mjbizdaily.com - Cannabis edibles are now legal: Everything you need to know October 15th 2019, Last Updated October 17th 2019
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Nevada CBD company buys California firm for $2.2M to expand into topicals, edibles
Nevada CBD manufacturer Leafceuticals is expanding into topicals and edibles with the $2.2 million acquisition of California’s Irie CBD products.
The acquisition gives Leafceuticals a processing plant in Oakland, California, for expanding its CBD line.
The agreement calls for Leafceuticals – a subsidiary of Las Vegas-based Freedom Leaf – to pay $400,000 cash and $1.8 million worth of stock to acquire Irie.
Leafceuticals currently makes hemp-derived CBD oils, vape products and pet chews.
But it doesn’t manufacture topicals or edibles, which will change with the Irie acquisition.
Freedom Leaf vice president Raymond Medeiros said Leafceuticals will continue extracting CBD from hemp in Nevada but will finish processing CBD into some products in California.
Freedom Leaf wants to expand its CBD footprint, he said.
“We are all about CBD,” Medeiros said. “We think CBD is a very valuable to consumers, and we think it’s a much larger market than the cannabis market.”
Leafceuticals will shift production of its Hempology CBD line to California, though there are no immediate plans to grow hemp in the Golden State or extract CBD there, Medeiros said.
Freedom Leaf trades on U.S. over-the-counter markets under the ticker symbol FRLF.
Mjbizdaily.com - Nevada CBD company buys California firm for $2.2M to expand into topicals, edibles March 8th 2018
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Db3 to Enter the Colorado Cannabis Market
Colorado-based edibles companies have been leading the charge as of late when it comes to expanding into other states. But now, a Washington State-based edibles company is expanding into Colorado for a change.
Db3, which produces a line of edibles called Zoots, announced this week that it has partnered with Bronnor Corp. to bring its products to Colorado.
Under the deal, Bronnor will manufacture and distribute Zoots products in Colorado beginning the week of March 7.
Initially, Zoots products will be available at two medical and recreational cannabis retailers in Denver owned by High Level Health, but the company hopes to spread its distribution across the state to other vendors over the course of 2016.
High Level Health will carry three of the four Zoots infused products. Each will be available in a lower-strength recreational potency, along with a stronger option for medical customers.
Mjbizdaily.com - Washington Edibles Maker Expanding to Colorado February 18th 2016
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GOVERNOR INSLEE VETOS BIPARTISAN HEMP FARMING BILL
Upset over not receiving a state budget from lawmakers, Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee last week vetoed a raft of 27 bills that had been sent to his desk, including a bipartisan measure in support of hemp farming.
The bill, which sailed through the legislature with just a single dissenting vote in the Senate, would have created a research program that policymakers could have used to evaluate the further buildup of hemp production. It would have licensed farmers and overseen cultivation, according to Capital Press.
Inslee, however, decided to punish lawmakers for failing to agree on a budget for the state. Inslee even went so far as to call the hemp bill “worthy,” but said in a statement, “Until a budget agreement is reached, I cannot support this bill.”
Hopeful hemp farmers can remain optimistic, however – Capital Press noted that the legislature can simply repass the same bill during a new 30-day legislative session that convened March 11.
Mjbizdaily.com - Washington Governor Vetoes Hemp Farming Bill March 15, 2016
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CELEBRITY CHEF JOINS CHICAGO MARIJUANA STARTUP
Cresco Labs CEO Charles Bachtell has been going to Mindy’s Hot Chocolate, a well-known Chicago restaurant a short walk from his house, for about 10 years.
Little did Bachtell know that one day he would team up with the restaurant’s owner – nationally known chef Mindy Segal (pictured) – on a cannabis-related endeavor.
Segal and Cresco are partnering to produce a line of marijuana-infused sweets. Cresco, which won three cultivation licenses in Illinois, will provide the extracted THC and other ingredients, while Segal will provide her baking skills and create the final product, branded under her name.
It’s a pretty big coup for Cresco: Segal won the James Beard Foundation award for Outstanding Pastry Chef in 2012, and she authored the award-winning cookbook “Cookie Love.” So her name might go a long way with patients looking for higher-end edibles products.
The move is also part of a larger trend in which cannabis companies are hooking up with celebrities and mainstream professionals who bring a new air of legitimacy to the industry.
And instead of just using a celebrity’s name – as some other companies are doing – Cresco is getting Segal actively involved in creating products, offering a new perspective on how to effectively work with a well-known personality.
“Her level of sophistication in her profession exceeds what we originally set out to try and achieve,” Bachtell said. “This will absolutely help legitimize where the cannabis industry is moving.”
Big Plans
Segal’s initial products will include chocolate brittle bars, granola bites, hot chocolate, and a ready-made cake and cookie mix with do-it-yourself instructions. Bachtell believes the sweets will be available in dispensaries by late February, but Segal thought it might take longer.
In the process, they are helping each other achieve notable firsts. For Cresco, this is its first go at the edibles market, and it has invested in a high-end kitchen for Segal and her staff to work in.
For Segal – whose main revenue is from her restaurant and branded hot chocolate mix, which she only sells from her eatery – this is her first foray into commercially sold products distributed outside the restaurant.
Indeed, Cresco and Segal have an ambitious plan to distribute not only in Illinois, but also in five other states: California, Colorado, Washington, Arizona and Nevada.
“I feel like this is an industry that is going to grow at rapid rates. I feel like I’m getting in at a time where the future is now,” Segal said. “I think I’m the first sort of well-known chef who has somewhat of a credible reputation to come forward and say, you know what, I’m entering this market.”
First Bite
Cresco officials initially took a conservative approach to the industry, deciding to focus on cultivating marijuana and making vapor oils, derma patches and pills. The relatively strict nature of Illinois’ program dissuaded Cresco from getting into the edibles market, Bachtell said.
“Conditions are limited. The procedures that are in place are fairly strict as to how somebody participates. Illinois wanted it to be a very structured program, so edibles wasn’t something that we really looked at,” Bachell said.
But not long after winning their licenses last year, Bachtell and his team decided to give edibles a second look.
“There’s an appropriate place for them. We just figured if we could do it right, if we were going to do an edible, we were going to make sure that it was appropriate, that it was adult-focused, that there wasn’t even a question of whether or not we were flirting with looking like candy,” Bachtell said.
Bachtell and his team brainstormed who they should approach for their edibles endeavor, and someone suggested Segal.
Last May, Cresco called Segal, who acknowledged wanting to get into the edibles industry. The chef said she hoped to receive just that sort of phone call.
“I got approached by a couple of people, and one of them was Cresco, and as I got to know them more and more I really believed in what they were doing and felt like it was the right thing for me to do,” Segal said.
Bachtell said Segal rang the company back about 24 hours after the initial call.
“From there it just blossomed,” he said.
Cresco’s kitchen, which should be done soon, will be outfitted with extraction, processing and testing equipment. Segal will also have her own staff in Cresco’s kitchen.
Bachtell said he expects the edibles to be available in all of Illinois’ dispensaries (more than two dozen are currently open, and up to 60 are allowed).
“We’ve been establishing relationships with dispensary owners for almost the last year,” Bachtell said. “Now we’re looking at opportunities to partner with people in other states to either license or bring the Mindy brand out here in some partnership relationship and get Mindy national.”
Bachtell didn’t discuss the terms of the agreement and said it is too early to predict what kind of revenue the edibles will generate for the company.
Celebrity Learning Curve
While Segal is an accomplished chef, she admits that she has a lot to learn when it comes to preparing and marketing marijuana infused edibles.
She recently took a trip to Colorado to visit dispensaries and learn about edibles branding and infusion. She’s also working with Cresco’s marketing specialist, as well as its chief of extraction to make sure products are dosed and infused correctly.
“I branded my hot chocolate in a fly-by-night, grass roots sort of way, and to be able to have resources to brand a product in a professional way is very exciting for me,” Segal said. “There’s a learning curve. I’ve dabbled in it as a recreational user, but not in a mass production sort of setting with oils and extraction and different THC and CBD percentages, and getting the right amount in each bar and getting the right affect, that’s lab work, that’s science.”
Giving that sort of backing to Segal was critical for Cresco.
“When we started looking at this edibles space, first and foremost it was about making a product that has that consistency to be relied upon. The first piece of chocolate in the package will have the same dosage as the last piece,” Bachtell said. “That was the primary focus, and then supplementing it with somebody who could add the other components, and that’s Mindy with her recipes and her knowledge of ingredients and flavors.”
As “the face” of Cresco’s edibles line, Segal brings a sophisticated star power to the cannabis industry, a kind that is far different than the attention brought by celebrities who are famous in part because of their cannabis connections, like Snoop Dogg, Julian Marley or Tommy Chong.
“What’s kind of unique about the Mindy situation, it’s less of a focus on whatever notoriety or celebrity status she has and more that she’s a professional in that field, and that’s why she has it,” Bachtell said. “So our affiliating with her is a unique situation where the celebrity profile that’s associated with the product is based on that being their area of expertise.”
This is the kind of celebrity that is good for the industry, Bachtell said.
“So anytime that you can in this cannabis space bring somebody in who adds to the professionalism of the finished product, the quality of the finished product, is going to help legitimize the industry in eyes of people that aren’t part of it,” Bachtell said. “Hopefully this is a trend you see in the industry going forward, these subject matter experts outside the industry from traditional industries getting involved in helping elevate the end product.”
Mjbizdaily.com - Cannabis Company’s Deal With Celebrity Chef Part of Growing Trend, February 10th 2016