House Bill 4454 by Republicans Rep. Carl Newton and Sen. Darcy Jech was meant to address a growing health concern – the consumption of high-dosage marijuana products by children.
How? By requiring producers to package or label their edible weed in a way that isn't "attractive to children."
Per the bill, that means restricting "use of any image or words designed or likely to appeal to persons younger than 18 years of age including, but not limited to, cartoons, toys, animals, food, or depictions of persons younger than 18 years of age, any other likeness to images, characters, or phrases that are popularly used to advertise to persons younger than 18, or any reasonable likeness to commercially available candy."
It also restricts making products in the shape of humans, cartoons or animals, particularly those to resemble gummy bears.
A violation of the law means clearing the cannabis off the shelf and potentially facing a fine of $500 for each product.
But about a dozen members of the public attended the last Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority Advisory (OMMA) Council meeting last week to share their perspective. And advocates and patients such as Austin Jones and Nancy Wallace say the law is confusing and hard to follow.
"Ninety percent of what you see in dispensary is not up to state statute," Jones said. "After November, none of it will be," Wallace added. "Because basically they're saying that the things you can eat can't look like anything that anybody else has ever eaten."
November 1 is when the new laws around packaging edibles, and other forms of medical marijuana take effect.
Further complicating matters: advocates say producers aren't getting the help they need from the state authority to ensure timely compliance. One issue raised by John Koumbis, owner of JKJ Processing, is that of inconsistent enforcement around existing packaging requirements.
"One inspector can say, oh, your packaging looks good. The other inspector can say, no, I don't think it looks good," Koumbis said. "We're riding a gray line as operators to make sure we're doing everything to the best of our ability to stay within the letter of the law. But it's all subjective."
He said the upcoming, harsher rules are putting a lot of pressure on producers who buy their packaging in bulk to either find a way to stay in compliance or bleed money from investments made void by lawmakers.
"We're not ordering 500 bags at a time," Koumbis said. "We're ordering 50,000 bags at a time. And then we get all these law changes… So are we going to have to throw all those bags away?"I would just like to have clear and precise instructions on what we're going to do moving forward," he said.
Another advocate for clarity around the packaging for edibles was one of the newest members of the OMMA Advisory Council, dispensary owner Steven Roper.
"When we say children, I think we all forget that this bill is talking about teenagers as well," Roper said. "And, you know, for somebody like JKJ when we look at professional imagery, are we considering astronauts or even a chef on packaging as appealing to children or not?"
OMMA executive director and advisory council chair Adria Berry said producers and dispensary owners who've already bought packaging outside of what'll be allowed in November should be safe.
"Any product packaged on or after November 1st is what we will be looking at," Berry said. "So we will be putting out more information as we get more information. But as of right now, we're just reading the bill and trying to give the best answers possible that we can."
When it comes to flavor descriptors on labels, like using the word "strawberry" to describe what an edible marijuana product tastes like, producers should be in the clear, Berry said.
"I think it would be overreach for OMMA to say that a processor can't put the flavor of the product on their packaging in words that are not attractive to children," she said. "So using the word strawberry to describe the flavor is likely compliant if you write it in a way that's not attractive to children."
One of the ideas raised by several public speakers is to establish some sort of review committee within OMMA that verifies the compliance of potential logos, labels and containers. Jones, who is also a founding member of the grassroots advocacy group Patients for Safe Access Oklahoma, elaborated.
"I've tried to work with people at the Capitol for years… about a bag design approval department," Jones said. "It should make sure the logo, name of the product, and like, the information that's supposed to be on there is correct."
He said that would give patients and people working in the industry peace of mind.
Meanwhile, Berry said any changes would have to come from the legislature, but that the OMMA advisory counsel is researching the possibilities of something like what Jones and others mentioned.
"We do know that 11 states with legal cannabis programs, whether medical or adult use, do require package pre-approval," Berry said. "Five have optional pre-approval processes. …Some states charge the licensee to review the product. Some states don't. Either one would require a legislative change.
"But what we're hearing from other states is that it works pretty well."
