Visualizing Different State Labeling Requirements
Most states that have legalized the commercial supply of marijuana require licensed suppliers to affix special labels to their marijuana products (see book pages 456-462). Among other things, these labels are supposed to inform consumers about what’s in the product (e.g., its THC concentration) and warn consumers about the health risks associated with consuming it (e.g., don’t use and drive).
Because these marijuana labeling requirements are creatures of state law, the labels suppliers affix to their products differ across the states. This is in stark contrast with the labels applied to many other products, like cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, and pharmaceuticals—these labels are generally the same throughout the nation, because their content is dictated by the federal government, which also limits the states’ power to tweak them.
In a prior post, Caveat Emptor: Are Marijuana Labels Accurate?, I noted a push to harmonize state labeling requirements across the states. In the meantime, however, customlabels.net has developed a neat infographic to help suppliers (and other curious parties) visualize the different requirements imposed by legalization states. The infographic can be found on the company’s website here.
Just FYI – I do not receive any compensation from customlabels.net and cannot speak to the accuracy of the information on their website. From a perusal of the states, however, it would appear that many of the differences are small — suggesting that elegant variation in state laws may increase the cost of doing business, without necessarily contributing much to consumer well-being.
h/t to Hannah Findlay for bringing the graphic to my attention