CONTACT:

David Clement

North American Affairs Manager

Consumer Choice Center

david@consumerchoicecenter.org

 

New Cannabis Packaging Regulations Threaten Consumer Choice And Consumer Safety

Ottawa, ON – Yesterday the federal government released the results of their public consultation regarding how legal cannabis will be packaged. In the proposal, the government included restrictions on the colour of cannabis packaging and the depiction of branding (see attached). In addition, the federal government will mandate that cannabis packaging can only have one additional branding element on the package, aside from the brand name itself.

The Consumer Choice Center warns that limiting branding significantly impacts consumer choice, consumer knowledge, and ultimately emboldens the black market.

“As we warned on the CBC in April of 2017, significantly limiting branding threatens consumer knowledge, consumer choice, and emboldens the black market. Branding and marketing are essential for consumers to make informed decisions. Limiting branding will make it more difficult for consumers to make appropriate and informed decisions when purchasing legal cannabis. In addition to that, we know from branding bans on other products that uniform packaging restrictions make it significantly easier for black market actors to pass their contraband as a legal product. Given that the goal of legalization is to stamp out the black market, these restrictions are a step in the wrong direction,” said David Clement, Toronto based North American Affairs Manager for the Consumer Choice Center

“The branding and packaging restrictions are even more problematic when you consider the fact that we do not have those regulations for alcohol. I see no reason why legal cannabis packaging should be more heavily regulated than alcohol,” David Clement

***CCC North America Affairs Manager David Clement is available to speak with accredited media on cannabis regulations and consumer choice issues. Please send media inquiries HERE.***

The CCC represents consumers in over 100 countries across the globe. We closely monitor regulatory trends in Ottawa, Washington, Brussels, Geneva and other hotspots of regulation and inform and activate consumers to fight for #ConsumerChoice. Learn more at consumerchoicecenter.org.