New York State Cannabis Packaging Regulations Breakdown

With New York State gearing up for licensing and the Cannabis market, the New York state’s Office of Cannabis Management has started to release draft regulations for labeling and packaging. One thing is for certain, New York ain’t California, and these regulations show New York may be trying to take a different approach than our West Coast counterpart. At first glance, these draft regulations for labeling, packaging, and promotion appear pretty restrictive (for instance, billboards are one of the forbidden promotional vehicles in New York State.

While there is a lot of information being tossed out at once, the Beast Coast team has decided to comb through the information and highlight some of the more important points in the regulations released by the New York state Office of Cannabis Management:

• Package must have total mgs of THC per serving and per package in BOLD

• If there is any solvent used in the product, it MUST BE LISTED ON THE PACKAGE

• A QR code linking to your certificate of analysis must be present on the package

• Packaging must be child-resistant, fully enclosed, and tamper evident

• Packaging must not contain graphics other than the standard required by the office

• Labeling MUST AVOID colloquial references to cannabis such as “stoner,” “chronic,” “weed,” or “pot”

• Companies should not be mentioning price, customer loyalty programs, reward programs or coupons

• Using the term “ORGANIC,” is not permitted

• There should be absolutely no obscenities, indecent statements, or disparagement of others’ business(Sorry Coochie Runtz)

• Anything appealing to those under 21- Bubble letters, cartoon fonts, neon colors, use of terms like “candy,” is prohibited

Yes if you were wondering, New York State hates California and the regulations they have. As companies continue to gear up for licenses, New York State will continue to monitor compliance for packaging, labeling, and promotion of cannabis. Make sure to follow us on Instagram to stay connected with our team for critical developments!