Doctors and lawmakers in California want cannabis producers to warn consumers of this and other health risks on their packaging labels and in advertising, similar to requirements for cigarettes.
They also want sellers to distribute health brochures to first-time customers outlining the risks cannabis poses to youths, drivers and those who are pregnant, especially for pot that has high concentrations of THC, the chemical primarily responsible for marijuana’s mental effects.
“Today’s turbocharged products are turbocharging the harms associated with cannabis,” said Dr. Lynn Silver with the Public Health Institute, a nonprofit sponsoring the proposed labeling legislation, Senate Bill 1097, the Cannabis Right to Know Act.
The state Senate passed SB 1097 in late May. The bill was referred to the Assembly’s appropriations committe earlier in June.
Californians voted to legalize recreational pot in 2016. Three years later, emergency room visits for cannabis-induced psychosis went up 54% across the state, from 682 to 1,053, according to state hospital data. For people who already have a psychotic disorder, cannabis makes things worse — leading to more emergency room visits, more hospitalizations and more legal troubles, said Dr. Deepak Cyril D’Souza, a psychiatry professor at Yale University School of Medicine who also serves on the physicians’ advisory board for Connecticut’s medical marijuana program.
Limiting the amount of THC in pot products and putting health warnings on labels could help reduce the health harms associated with cannabis use, D’Souza said, the same way those methods worked for cigarettes.
He credits warning labels, education campaigns, and marketing restrictions for the sharp drop in smoking rates among kids and teens in the past decade.
“We know how to message them,” D’Souza said. “But I don’t think we have the will or the resources, as yet.”
Source: https://www.dailynews.com/2022/06/30/california-may-require-labels-on-pot-products-to-warn-of-mental-health-risks