Colorado: No edible pot shaped as people, animals or fruit

DENVER — A ban on gummy bears and other edible marijuana products shaped like animals, people and fruit takes effect this month in Colorado — a change aimed at decreasing the likelihood small children will mistake them for a favorite treat.

The switch is less dramatic for Colorado’s cannabis companies than adapting to last fall’s rollout of exhaustive requirements for labeling, packaging and stamps on individual edible marijuana products.

But it’s motivated by the same concerns about children popping tasty-looking products into their mouths and getting sick, or adults accidentally overdoing it when they consume edible pot.

The marijuana industry isn’t alone in trying to anticipate what will catch a grabby toddler’s eye. People call Colorado’s poison control hotline thousands of times each year when kids swallow household cleaners and prescription medications — far more often than they call about marijuana products, said Larry Wolk, the state health agency’s executive director.

“Anything that can look like candy is more enticing to kids,” Wolk said.

But as part of an ongoing effort to avoid a federal crackdown on its marijuana experiment, Colorado has made cutting the number of accidental ingestion reports a priority. In an August letter responding to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ request for information on marijuana legalization, Colorado’s governor highlighted the state’s progressively stricter packaging and labeling requirements as a key part of its efforts to minimize retail pot’s appeal to children.

Colorado lawmakers approved the ban on some edible shapes in 2016. At one hearing on the issue, lawmakers shown packages of gummy candies that contained pot and typical gummy bears couldn’t tell the difference, said Mike Hartman, director of Colorado’s Department of Revenue.

“That really highlighted that we need to take some action here and make sure these products are not to be mistaken, particularly anyone under the age of 21,” Hartman said.