Warning label compliance of recreationally available cannabis flower and concentrate products in the state of Colorado

Background & methods As rates of cannabis use and recreational access increase, it is imperative that recreational cannabis products have clear, consistent, and standardized labeling practices. The current study assessed labeling accuracy for standardized labeling requirements of 480 ( n = 277 flower; n = 203 concentrate) recreational cannabis products purchased from across Colorado. Each product label was assessed for the presence of the following required regulatory components: universal symbol, driving warnings, pregnancy warnings, expiration dates, ideal storage conditions, and THC potency. Observed compliance with warning labels was compared to expected proportions for each regulatory labeling component, and Chi-square was used to assess if these observed proportions were different between cannabis flower and concentrate products. Results Only the universal symbol met the expected proportion by being present on 99.2% of all product labels. Driving warnings (97.5%), pregnancy warnings (97.5%), expiration dates (51.2%), and ideal storage conditions (16.9%) failed to meet the expected proportions ( p ’s < 0.05). Further, there were differences by product type, with concentrate products being more likely to contain expiration dates and ideal storage conditions compared to flower products ( p ’s < 0.05). Finally, there were differences by product type in THC reporting language, with concentrates being more likely to use “Total THC” and flower products more likely to use “THC” or “Total THC and THC” ( p ’s < 0.05). Conclusions These results highlight discrepancies in recreational cannabis product labeling practices, and these discrepancies vary by product type. This highlights potential public health, safety, and consumer trust issues that may arise from inconsistent labeling practices of recreational cannabis products.