Marijuana Edibles Come Under New Colorado Regulations on October 1

The Marijuana Enforcement Division has updated Colorado laws regarding cannabis. And starting October 1, one major change will affect customers — while another affects product manufacturers.

After conducting a few studies, MED determined that the THC levels between flower, edibles and concentrates were so different that the state's regulations had to change regarding how much of each substance could be sold at one time. There's a higher level of THC in concentrates than flower, for example, so the MED didn't think customers should be able to purchase the same amount of each. 

So starting October 1, all recreational sales will be limited to one ounce of flower, regardless of the type of product. That means customers are restricted to 800 milligrams of edibles or eight grams of concentrates at one time. This translates to eighty 10-milligram servings of THC in each retail marijuana product.

The new restrictions only apply to retail sales, not possession. It is still legal to possess up to 28 grams of concentrates or THC at once.

On the business side, marijuana companies have been given new requirements regarding their edible production methods, which will be evident in packaging and in the products themselves. Companies are now restricted from calling their products "candy," and those products must be clearly marked with these words: "Keep out of reach of children."

And not only is a THC symbol required on the labeling, as dictated under the last regulatory change, but each individual edible is now required to have the symbol as well. As a result, many edibles companies have had to buy new molds for their products to meet this requirement.

Creating the molds was a difficult undertaking for many businesses, according to Ali Maffey, the retail marijuana education program manager for the State of Colorado.

At the Colorado Tourism Conference earlier this month, Maffey detailed the lengths one marijuana company went to in order to comply with the new regulations. "No one in other states would create them because THC is considered marijuana paraphernalia — so they would be creating marijuana paraphernalia by creating those molds," she said. "And so then they found a company in China that would create the molds for them and tried to import them, but they were held at Customs and not allowed into the country by the feds because they were marijuana paraphernalia."

According to Andrew Schrot, CEO of Blue Kudu, his company had to purchase 2,000 custom molds to comply with the new rules. Creating the new molds and pulling the old bars from the shelves cost the company about $80,000, he says.

More information on the new regulations can be found through the Good to Know campaign or the Colorado Department of Revenue's Marijuana Enforcement Division.