Raising Edibles Awareness

A worker packages marijuana-infused chocolate bars at Kiva Confections in Oakland, California. In Canada edible marijuana products must not be “appealing to kids” and cannot be manufactured in the same facility where regular food products are made. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

"[It isn't clear whether sweets and gummies alter the addictive potential of cannabis], but if it gets people using products at a younger age, that creates a situation of greater risk of addiction."

"[Roughly nine percent of those using marijuana will end up dependent on it, a number that rises to about 17 percent for those who begin using in their teen years]."

Susan Weiss, director of research, National Institute on Drug Abuse

"In states where marijuana is legal, pot comes in cookies, mints, gummies, protein bars — even pretzels. These commercial products are labelled with the amount of high-inducing THC. That helps medical marijuana patients get the desired dose and other consumers attune their buzz. But something about chocolate, chemists say, seems to interfere with potency testing. A chocolate labelled as 10 milligrams of THC could have far more and send someone to the emergency room with hallucinations. "The chocolate itself is affecting our ability to measure the cannabinoids within it," said David Dawson, chemist and lead researcher at CW Analytical Laboratories in Oakland, Calif., which tests marijuana."                         CBC

Marijuana brownie, demonstration in front of Mexican Senate building. (Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images)

Fruit-flavoured THC 'pearls' are heading into the fall market for edible marijuana and they come with a #highforhalloween hashtag. Another edibles producer advertises a 'Scary Savings' promotion on CBD chocolates. These new seasonal promotions simply are the product of a maturing market, just like any other consumer products being advertised in promotional material geared to take consumers' attention that something new and exciting is being brought to the retail market.

Colours, shapes, flavours, what's not to like? Well, that old cautionary tale that what is available for adults holds an appealing attraction for younger people for whom the product is not meant, for health and development reasons. And, after all, the younger generation -- among whom many will go to any lengths to acquire what is denied them because if it's attractive to adults, it's irresistible to juveniles -- will in all likelihood come to harm resulting from their adventurism.

An increasingly wider variety of products are being produced in the marijuana industry with cannabis edibles in enticingly larger distribution of attractive new shapes, tastes and strengths, seductive to pot lovers. According to tracking industry data, there are reliable estimates that edibles in the United States saw sales rise 80 percent over the past two years.

Gummies, now intriguingly available in bear shapes, rainbow colours and flavours ranging from raspberry-lemonade to exotic Hawaiian fruits, are particularly well placed on consumers' shopping lists. Geared for consumption to buyers 21 and over, alarm bells are ringing that just as the vaping industry ended up attracting under-age users with their development of fruity flavours, a similar situation is on its way to reality with candy-shaped-and-tasting marijuana.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has yet to decide which category cannabis should fall into; a food or a dietary supplement. Companies for the present, discuss how difficult it is to get their dosing just right with cannabis edibles. According to Susan Weiss, a director of research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, an increasing incidence of accidental cannabis overdoses is worrying, among children in particular.

Edible marijuana samples Santa Ana, Calif. (Chris Carlson /CP/AP)

Of the colourful, flavourful new edibles, the most enthusiastic and largest group of users are those in the age 18 to 25 range, viewed as a critical time for neural development that may be affected by cannabis use. Around nine percent of people using marijuana will become dependent on it, a figure that rises to around 17 percent in those who begin using in their teens.

According to Daniel Fabricant, CEO of the Natural Products Association, former director of Dietary Supplements at the FDA, even with non-psychoactive CBD, manufacturers should err on the side of caution. They need to ask themselves: "Have you taken the steps someone would expect a reasonable corporate citizen to take?"