April 27, 2023: A New York State of Packaging
What to keep in mind when designing your packaging for the New York market.
Let’s chat packaging regulations. If you’re in the cannabis space, you definitely know them, and you probably don’t love them. Either way, they’re not going away. Understanding the various regulations from state to state helps brands ensure success for their business, and in fact, such stipulations often present one the first major barriers for cannabrands’ entry into the market. As part of our new blog series, we’re unpacking cannabis packaging requirements and what they dictate for the labels that go on the outside of Tree Hugger Container jars. First up in the queue: the one and only Empire State!
In New York–where a recent court decision lifted a ban on legal cannabis shops amid a “gray market” for recreational use–brands must meet a complex set of regulations to get their product on shelves. The Empire State’s Office of Cannabis Management’s standards for packaging, labeling, advertising, and marketing went into effect on March 22, 2023 and require compliance for legal retail or advertisement. You can check out the regulations in full here.
Overseen by the Cannabis Control Board in the state, the legal requirements for cannabis include the following stipulations:
Package Structure: As in many other weed-legal states, NY requires cannabis packaging be fully-enclosed, child-resistant, and tamper-evident.
Font Size: All packaging and advertising must list all state-mandated health and safety warnings, including poison control information and pregnancy, child, and pet warnings. This information is required to be at least size 6 font, bolded, and in Times New Roman, Calibri, Arial, or Helvetica.
Product Potency: Milligrams per serving of THC, CBD, or any other phytocannabinoids must be bolded on main packaging paneling.
Certificates of Analysis: In addition to listing all ingredients, including any allergens in bold, product packaging must include a QR code that links to a downloadable certificate of analysis.
Cultural References: Marketing, advertising, and advertisements cannot use or display colloquial references to cannabis, like “chronic,” “stoner,” or “bud” unless such reference is used in the licensee’s name or logo. They also cannot employ depictions of cannabis, cannabis products, paraphernalia or the imagery of smoking or vaping.
Illustration: Packaging cannot use any imagery or graphics outside of the brand logo.
Appealing to Minors: Advertising may not employ any imagery or words that may be “attractive to individuals under 21.” This explicitly applies to “bubble” or cartoonish fonts, neon colors (with a saturation value of over 60 percent), and any allusion to food or beverages, such as “candy”; variations of spellings (“kandy”) of food/beverage motifs are also not permitted.
Organic Claims: As there is yet to be a federal standard for organic cannabis, labels cannot use the term “organic.” Similarly, labels cannot expressly or implicitly make any health claims about the product.
Use of Plastic: After January 1, 2024, cannabis packaging cannot be made out of plastic unless it contains a minimum of 25 percent post-consumer recycled content.
All in all, packaging regulations can be a daunting lift for new or small businesses. We’re here to make the nuts and bolts a little less mysterious.
*This blog is not intended to be prescriptive legal advice for what you should or should not include on your packaging. Like many things in our industry, packaging requirements change frequently. Please contact your legal team to confirm your packaging label requirements.