Why is this needed?
If marijuana is legalized, where marijuana may be grown, how it may be distributed and by whom, where it may be sold, and how it may be packaged are key issues that must be addressed to control amounts grown, distributed, and sold.

The impact of packaging alone can be seen in a new study conducted in New Zealand:

• Researchers found that removing logos and colors from cigarette packages also removes their appeal to adolescents. A majority of young people who participated in the study said they would not be interested in smoking cigarettes from plain packages with only the cigarette brand name and a large graphic warning about smoking’s dangers because it wouldn’t look “cool” any more. The study was reported at a conference and is due to be published in a scholarly journal soon. (1)

A set of regulations must be established to control the production, distribution, packaging, and sale of marijuana. Then growers, distributors, and retail sellers must be licensed. Licenses can be revoked if licensees fail to comply with regulations.

Another way to exert control is to sell marijuana only in state-owned stores. In either case, to protect children, regulatory controls should meet the following goals:

• A limited number of growers, distributors, and retail sellers to control the amount of marijuana produced, distributed, and sold. Limiting the number of retail outlets will allow regulators to locate them away from areas of the community that young people frequent.

• Marijuana sold only in retail outlets where no other products may be sold (such as alcohol, other drugs, drug paraphernalia, and so forth).

• No onsite consumption (no “marijuana bars”).

• No “bundling” of marijuana with other products (no marijuana beer, no marijuana brownies, etc.)

• No underage young people working in any aspect of the marijuana business.

• No marijuana use on the job by growers, distributors, or sellers.

• To protect the tax base, home grown marijuana is prohibited.

• Restrictions on packaging design.

• Warning labels on packages.

This provision will establish a regulatory structure to control the amount of legal marijuana that can be produced and sold to consumers and will govern how marijuana is packaged to lessen its appeal to children, adolescents, and young adults. The costs to regulate legal marijuana and the law enforcement costs that will be required to enforce the regulations will come from the industry-financed fund described in Provision 5.
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References

1. Danny Rose. “Smoking ‘won’t look cool anymore’.” Australian Associated Press, October 7, 2010.