Deadline for Missouri’s new cannabis plain packaging is Sept. 1

The state constitution now requires regulators to put more rules in place to protect children from accidental consumption and poisoning.

Cannabis companies face a hard deadline to meet Missouri's new plain packaging requirements on Sept. 1, more than a year after the rule was initially put in place.

For decades, there's been a global movement urging "plain packaging" on tobacco products, or packaging with limited colors and frills, after numerous studies found it makes cigarettes less appealing to young people.

Missouri is now a testing ground to see if plain packaging has the same impact on recreational cannabis.

When voters passed the constitutional amendment to legalize recreational cannabis in 2022, it included a provision that labels and packaging for cannabis-related products, "shall not be made to be attractive to children."

Now under new state rules, packaging can only be one primary color, and it can have up to two logos or symbols that can be a different color or several different colors.

"This approach to packaging is familiar to all of us," said Amy Moore, director of Missouri's Division of Cannabis Regulation, during a legislative committee hearing last year. "You think about the cereal aisle versus tobacco packaging or over-the-counter medicines."

The initial deadline for compliance was May 1, but regulators heard from licensees that potential delays in global shipping could impact their ability to receive the packaging in time.

Now starting on Sept. 1, cannabis manufacturers must package and label all products in division-approved designs before sending them to a dispensary. Dispensaries can continue to sell non-compliant products they already have in the store until Nov. 1.

The new rules also require the division to pre-approve the labels, a process that didn't exist under medical cannabis rules.