Cannabis In The News

Cannabis Users Want Full Information and Verification of Product Safety, Study Reveals

A new nationwide study commissioned by SICPA North America shows overwhelming support among cannabis users for more in-depth information about the products they may use. The poll was conducted online by The Harris Poll among 2,056 US adults.

Key study results include:

• Nearly three in five cannabis users (defined as those who have ever used cannabis products) say they don’t know how to determine which cannabis products are worth consuming and which are not, likely given the myriad of product options in the marketplace.

• More than four in five cannabis users, or 83%, support requiring cannabis retailers to provide verified certificates to consumers to validate that their products have been legitimately tested for safety and potency.

• Four in five cannabis users (80%) say it is important to them to have a way of verifying the safety of a cannabis product before using it.

• Almost four in five cannabis users (78%) say it would be important to them to be able to validate whether a cannabis product has ever been recalled prior to making a purchase.

‘Cannabis users clearly crave a greater depth of information about the safety of cannabis products, whether they’re using flower, concentrates, edibles, tinctures or topical products,’ said Karen Gardner, Chief Marketing Officer at SICPA US. ‘The desire among consumers for more safety information about the cannabis products they consume aligns with SICPA’s survey last fall that showed a broad appetite for secure, tamper-proof labelling of cannabis products to provide assurance that cannabis products are legitimate and safe.’

The first SICPA/Harris Poll survey, conducted in 2021, showed that 83% of Americans believe that states where cannabis is legal should require licensed cannabis producers to use secure labels that cannot be counterfeited on their products. And four in five Americans (80%) voiced their support for a programme that would make it easier to detect legal versus illegal cannabis products.

In fact, the study revealed, many Americans would be willing to pay more for products they know they can trust. Two-thirds of Americans (67%) said if they were to purchase cannabis, they would pay more for cannabis products carrying a secure label designating them as being from a licensed provider who adheres to safety and legal standards.

Metrc Lands Three Cannabis Track and Trace Contracts in Two Weeks

In the space of just two weeks, during March this year, Metrc, the leading provider of cannabis regulatory systems in the United States, announced new contracts with three states: South Dakota and Minnesota for their medical cannabis programmes, and New Jersey for its medical and adult use programme.

This brings the total number of government contracts awarded to Metrc for the implementation of cannabis track and trace systems to 20.

With regard to South Dakota and Minnesota, Metrc’s systems will help facilitate medical cannabis data collection and regulatory oversight.

The platform offers a unique RFID tag model, where each individual plant and product is traceable through a patented radio-frequency identification tag, allowing for the data tracking of each plant and optimising inventory control and cultivation management. This inventory management system helps ensure regulatory compliance, assists with the accurate reporting of sales data, combats the illicit market, and provides much needed advances in consumer and product safety.

‘As South Dakota continues to ramp up their recently implemented medical cannabis market, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to spearhead the state’s first ever track and trace programme,’ said Jeff Wells, CEO of Metrc.

The partnership between Metrc and New Jersey, which has had a legal medicinal cannabis programme in place since 2010 and legalised cannabis for adult use since 2021, represents the first time this state has deployed a centralised track and trace system.

Metrc now holds exclusive government contracts in every region of the US, including Alaska, California, and Washington, DC. While these areas may have diverse regulatory frameworks, each jurisdiction shares the common goal of ensuring a safe legal cannabis market.