Marijuana industry using tobacco’s old tactics of preying on kids, study says

NJ.com 27 June 2020
Our additional comment: “The unethical choices the tobacco industry made decades ago marketing its addictive and harmful products to kids and the lax government oversight that allowed it to happen are playing out again in California’s legal weed industry, according to a new study… Lynn Silver, the pediatrician and lead author, said she is not opposed to marijuana legalization, but based on what the study found is “deeply concerned by the irresponsible way legalization is occurring in the U.S. that is allowing the emergence of a new tobacco-like industry.”

The unethical choices the tobacco industry made decades ago marketing its addictive and harmful products to kids and the lax government oversight that allowed it to happen are playing out again in California’s legal weed industry, according to a new study.

With New Jersey voters going to the polls Nov. 3 to decide whether to approve a constitutional amendment expanding its medical marijuana law to all adults 21 and older, the study by the Public Health Institute offers ideas of how the state could take a firmer hand regulating the burgeoning industry.

The authors — a pediatrician, an attorney and a research scientist — examined the laws in 534 of California’s 539 cities and counties a year after marijuana was legalized for adults 21 and older in 2018.

Lynn Silver, the pediatrician and lead author, said she is not opposed to marijuana legalization, but based on what the study found is “deeply concerned by the irresponsible way legalization is occurring in the U.S. that is allowing the emergence of a new tobacco-like industry.”

California has a flourishing market for high-potency products, like edibles and concentrates known as dabs, which lack prominent and explicit warning labels, Silver said. It’s not hard to find dried flowers with THC levels as much as 30%, and as much as three times that amount for concentrates, she said.

Cannabis-infused soda and gummies and other products with names like “girl scout cookie” appear to target youth, much in the way “Joe Camel” lured young smokers and cherry and bubble gum-flavored nicotine vapes targeted minors. Billboards promoting marijuana products are commonplace, and cannabis consumption at concerts and fairs is permitted, according to the article.
READ MORE: https://www.nj.com/marijuana/2020/06/marijuana-industry-using-tobaccos-old-tactics-of-preying-on-kids-study-says.html

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