Protect children from
Cannabis Candy
Please join us in protecting children from being harmed by cannabis products that look like candy. Let’s send a message to Governor Newsom that this is unacceptable and it is time for him to act and protect our kids.
Cannabis candy ban – Why?
As California’s legal cannabis market matures, exposure to cannabis marketing, and the range and popularity of cannabis products, have grown with it. Laws and regulations must also evolve alongside this new market to ensure the safety of our children and youth. However, Prop 64 provisions intended to protect children, including that cannabis products 1) would not be designed to be appealing to children and 2) would be prohibited from being marketed/advertised to persons younger than 21 years old, have not been effectively implemented.
Regulations have weakened, rather than enforced these protections, failing to put in place systems to assess and prevent products from being attractive to children or to resemble conventional candy or food typically marketed to kids.
Across the state, cannabis businesses sell products that resemble popular candy and snack products from gummy worms to Nachos, often with ten doses in a single soda can or edible bar facilitating overconsumption and adverse experiences. Many cannabis businesses use bright colors, cartoon images, animals, and fonts clearly meant to appeal to kids. Cannabis vapes are often marketed using fruity or sweet flavors known to attract teens.
get the facts
Annual cannabis exposures reported to California Poison Control increased from below 200 in 2010 to over 1600 by 2020; 50% involved children, half below age 12; ingestion of gummies, candies, chocolate and drinks increased significantly. In contrast, there were only 16 total reported gummy exposures between 2010 and 2015 vs. 409 in 2020 alone.
At Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, children under age 10 testing positive for THC quadrupled since 2016, mostly from edibles, of which three quarters were from candies or gummies. Half led to hospitalization and one in ten to intensive care, associated with $15 million in expenditures over the period in just that one hospital, three quarters from MediCal.
Nationally, edible cannabis poisonings of children six and under increased 1,375% between 2017 and 2021, growing in severity. Many resulted in intensive care or mechanical ventilation, and even though uncommon, in death.
Multiple CA school districts experienced incidents of cannabis poisoned children, often in groups, requiring evacuation by ambulance, typically after ingesting products marketed to resemble candies or chips. Schools are also seeing widespread vaping of high THC cannabis products marketed as flavored.
Examples – Legally Sold Cannabis Products
California, along with the rest of the nation, is experiencing an explosion of children being rushed to emergency departments due to accidental ingestion/overconsumption of psychoactive cannabis products that often mimic some of their favorite brands of candy, soda, or snacks. Don’t believe us?
Do you think a child could distinguish these cannabis products from the commonly sold ones or characters they are mimicking?
Would you consider these products to be appealing to children and youth, yay or nay?
Examples – Legally Sold Cannabis Products
California, along with the rest of the nation, is experiencing an explosion of children being rushed to emergency departments due to accidental ingestion/overconsumption of psychoactive cannabis products that often mimic some of their favorite brands of candy, soda, or snacks. Don’t believe us?
Do you think a child could distinguish these cannabis products from the commonly sold ones or characters they are mimicking?
Would you consider these products to be appealing to children and youth, yay or nay?
Pending Legislation – AB 1207: The Cannabis candy child safety Act
AB 1207, the Cannabis Candy Child Safety Act (Irwin), will implement key measures to protect children and youth by adopting a clear definition of what is “attractive to children,” prohibiting cannabis products, packaging and marketing that is attractive to children or teens, and prohibiting flavored inhaled cannabis products known to hook kids, just as flavored Juul e-cigarettes did. Child exposure to and ingestion of cannabis and its products is neither necessary nor an acceptable by-product of a legal cannabis market. Roughly half of California children are covered by MediCal, so health expenditures for poisonings, substance abuse treatment, emergency room visits, car accidents, and associated mental health treatments come out of public funding. Use by kids can also lead to significant expenditures by the educational system as well as law enforcement. The CA legal cannabis market can flourish without the proliferation of cannabis products that are clearly attractive to children. The Cannabis Candy Child Safety Act will honor the promise and intent of Prop 64 to keep cannabis and its products out of the hands and bodies of our children.
Pending Legislation – AB 1207: The Cannabis candy child safety Act
AB 1207, the Cannabis Candy Child Safety Act (Irwin), will implement key measures to protect children and youth by adopting a clear definition of what is “attractive to children,” prohibiting cannabis products, packaging and marketing that is attractive to children or teens, and prohibiting flavored inhaled cannabis products known to hook kids, just as flavored Juul e-cigarettes did. Child exposure to and ingestion of cannabis and its products is neither necessary nor an acceptable by-product of a legal cannabis market. Roughly half of California children are covered by MediCal, so health expenditures for poisonings, substance abuse treatment, emergency room visits, car accidents, and associated mental health treatments come out of public funding. Use by kids can also lead to significant expenditures by the educational system as well as law enforcement. The CA legal cannabis market can flourish without the proliferation of cannabis products that are clearly attractive to children. The Cannabis Candy Child Safety Act will honor the promise and intent of Prop 64 to keep cannabis and its products out of the hands and bodies of our children.
Pending Legislation – AB 1207: The Cannabis candy child safety Act
AB 1207, the Cannabis Candy Child Safety Act (Irwin), will implement key measures to protect children and youth by adopting a clear definition of what is “attractive to children,” prohibiting cannabis products, packaging and marketing that is attractive to children or teens, and prohibiting flavored inhaled cannabis products known to hook kids, just as flavored Juul e-cigarettes did. Child exposure to and ingestion of cannabis and its products is neither necessary nor an acceptable by-product of a legal cannabis market. Roughly half of California children are covered by MediCal, so health expenditures for poisonings, substance abuse treatment, emergency room visits, car accidents, and associated mental health treatments come out of public funding. Use by kids can also lead to significant expenditures by the educational system as well as law enforcement. The CA legal cannabis market can flourish without the proliferation of cannabis products that are clearly attractive to children. The Cannabis Candy Child Safety Act will honor the promise and intent of Prop 64 to keep cannabis and its products out of the hands and bodies of our children.