DENVER -- Edible marijuana products in Colorado may soon come labeled with a red stop sign, according to a draft of new rules released by state marijuana regulators.
The state may also ban the word "candy" from edible pot products, even on sweets such as suckers or gummy chews, reported the Associated Press.
The new pot symbol—an octagon stop-sign shape with the letters "THC" to indicate marijuana's psychoactive ingredient—would have to be on individual edible items, not just labels. Liquid marijuana products would be limited to single-serve packaging—defined as 10 milligrams of THC.
"It's time we have a tool to really let people know there is pot in something," Diane Carlson of Smart Colorado, a parents' group that has pushed for giving edible pot a distinct look, told the news agency.
Regulators rejected an earlier proposal to mark edible pot with a weed-leaf symbol after parents complained the symbol would simply attract children, not dissuade them from eating the products.
Also banned under the proposed rules are premade edible items. The rules would ban a manufacturer from buying bulk candy and spraying it with cannabis oil, but not altering an existing product so that it's unrecognizable, such as grinding up chocolate chip cookies to make a cheesecake crust.
The proposed rules were released as the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division works on new guidelines for edible marijuana, which can be baked into cookies or brownies or added to items from sodas, to pasta sauces to granolas.
The state already bans pot manufacturers from using cartoon characters on packaging or making "lookalike" products such as candies designed to mimic common foods. But the state has seen sporadic reports of people unknowingly eating pot. Perhaps most famous was a man hospitalized after unknowingly eating pot-infused chocolate at the 2014 Denver County Fair.
The new edible-pot rules face a public hearing before final adoption.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.