The advertising and marketing restrictions in AUMA prohibit the use of cartoon characters, giveaways, and adverThising on billboards located on an “Interstate Highway or State Highway which crosses the border of any other state.” The signage requirements for marijuana licensees prohibit adverThisements within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds. Event sponsorship, payments to promote marijuana in movies, and branded merchandise will be permitted as long as these promotions are not “specifically designed to appeal to certain demographics.” There are no requirements that discounted offers and coupons be prohibited. Advertising on broadcast, cable, radio, print and digital communications will be permitted as long as 71.6% of the audience is “reasonably expected to be 21 years or older” based on audience composition data. Any individualized or direct digital adverThising or marketing through email, the internet, and mobile devices will be required to use a method of age verification, which is modeled on voluntary codes for digital direct marketing established by the alcohol industry that have failed to reduce underage minors’ exposure to alcohol advertising and marketing. Advertising and marketing restrictions will not apply to noncommercial speech. Prohibiting advertising and marketing is one of the most effective tobacco and alcohol control interventions to protect the public from industry strategies having the effect of or known to target youth and young adults. A public health framework for retail marijuana would prohibit the use of cartoon characters, event sponsorship, vertical grow system product placement in popular media, and branded merchandise. It would also prohibit giveaways, free samples, coupon redemption, distributing coupons in public areas, and distributing ads or coupons to underage people.
Marijuana advertising would be prohibited on television, radio , billboards, public transit, and restricted in print and digital communications with 15% as the maximum underage audience composition for permitted adverThising . The way to protect youth most effectively and prevent advertising that encourages excessive or abusive use , would be to allow retail marijuana advertising only inside licensed, adult-only retail outlets that sell retail marijuana and marijuana products . In addition, tax deductions for adverThising and marketing would not be allowed in order to increase costs of marijuana company promotional activity. An additional tool to protect underage people and vulnerable populations from marijuana industry targeted marketing tactics would be to have in place a comprehensive set of sunshine disclosure policies. Through sunshine disclosure laws, marijuana companies would be required to report to the California Department of Public Health all paid advertising expenditures, price discounting and incentives, promotional allowances, payments to retailers and wholesalers, and contributions to elected officials. The CDPH would create reports of the data collected from marijuana companies and these reports would be required by law to be publicly available. These laws are important to promote government transparency and to discourage industry payments to professionals . Additionally, these laws are an important strategy to address and reduce health disparities by removing access, as evidenced by tobacco and alcohol company marketing practices, to key marketing tools that would target underage persons, low income groups, and communities of color. The AUMA initiative is strong in that it prohibits marijuana companies from advertising or marketing their products using false or misleading health-related statements or claims.
These claims may include that the product has therapeutic benefits; all adverThising will be required to be “truthful” and “appropriately substantiated” . The AUMA initiative fails to include other important restrictions that would prevent marijuana companies from using marketing claims to increase the appeal and safety of their products. Marijuana companies will be permitted to market their products as “natural” or “less harmful” than other marijuana, tobacco, or alcohol products. Marijuana and marijuana products with a “certified organic designation” will not be required to include an additional warning statement that informs the consumer that the product is not safe or safer than other marijuana products because it is organic. Tobacco companies use similar marketing claims on tobacco products , which are often rated by young people and smokers as more appealing and less harmful than products without these descriptors. One way to prevent the likelihood that marijuana companies would take advantage of the weak language for restrictions on health-related messaging, would be to require that all advertising and marketing statements and claims be evidence-based and approved by the Department of Public Health, including claims about the product improving sex, energy, sleep, weight reduction, vitamin supplements, among other health-related claims that would increase product appeal. Under the AUMA initiative, product standards will be based on voluntary codes established by industry organizations rather than independent public health agencies, whose primary mission is protecting public health. AUMA prohibits the sale of marijuana and marijuana products that exceed the minimum level of contaminants set forth by the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia, an herbal product industry organization that creates herbal product industry standards, reviews traditional and scientific data, and publishes this information in monographs and other materials for public and commercial distribution. These contaminants include residual solvents, butane, propane, and poisons, toxins, or carcinogens, such as methanol, isopropyl alcohol, methylene chloride, acetone, benzene, toluene, and trichloroethylene.
The toxic chemical, nicotine, is not included. AUMA prohibits the sale of marijuana and marijuana products that exceed the level of residual volatile organic compounds of the voluntary standards established by the United States Pharmacopeia, a nonprofit organization that includes members of the pharmaceutical, food, and dietary supplement industries that, in collaboration with stakeholders including industry representatives, sets national standards for the strength and quality of drugs, food, and dietary supplements. Licensed testing facilities would be required to follow standard methods set forth by the International Organization for Standardization for testing and calibration activities including marijuana and marijuana product sampling, rather than the Department of Public Health. As is the case with tobacco companies influencing tobacco product standards that are antithetical to public health, it is likely that industry representation in these organizations will result in standards that prioritize commercial interests over public health. The standards established by the ISO for tobacco and tobacco products have failed to protect consumers’ health and safety, largely due to the tobacco companies’ role in influencing ISO standard methods to measure tar and nicotine levels. The tobacco companies, cannabis grow supplies through the industry-dominated Cooperation Center for Scientific Research Relative to Tobacco , pushed industry friendly tests and scientific evidence to establish ISO standard methods that yielded lower tar and nicotine levels than those actually present in cigarettes. The flawed measurement permitted the cigarette companies to market their products using specific health claims , suggesting these products were safe or had a reduced risk of harm. Tobacco companies have also claimed their products were “less toxic”, “natural”, or “additive-free”, among other misleading claims that would lead consumers to perceive their products were safe. A public health framework would provide the CDPH with the power to enact strong potency limits and product quality testing for marijuana products, with a clear mission to protect public health. The CDPH would set a maximum THC per serving size level using evidence based recommendations for new users, with packaging indicating individual single servings and a maximum amount per package. The CDPH would be permitted to change these amounts based on the available and emerging evidence. The independent advisory committee would advise the Legislature on how to create tax incentives for producers to create less potent products. Additives that would increase potency, toxicity, or addictive potential, or that would create unsafe combinations with other psychoactive substances would be prohibited. In addition to additives prohibited by the CDPH, marijuana and marijuana products would not include nicotine, alcohol, caffeine or other chemicals that increase the carcinogenicity, cardiac effects, or other toxicity when consumed as intended, as well as flavors that appeal to underage persons. Products that contain dangerous contaminants such as residual butane and other solvents, and other chemicals not safe for consumption or inhalation would not be approved. Marijuana companies would be required to submit applications to the CDPH prior to marketing or selling new marijuana products. Under the AUMA initiative, the marijuana product safety requirements are inadequate to minimize public health harms. The AUMA initiative’s serving size THC level is twice the maximum limit recommended by the Oregon Retail Marijuana Scientific Advisory Committee to the Oregon Health Authority, which is that marijuana and marijuana products contain 5 mg of THC per serving and each package be limited to a maximum of 10 servings . The maximum THC per serving size level of 10 mg of tetrahydrocannabinol per serving is written into the initiative and, so, cannot be easily changed as new information on the effects and toxicity of marijuana and marijuana products accumulates.
The Legislature will be able to adjust THC per serving amounts; however, as noted above the Legislature has failed to close important loopholes in the state smoke free law. It has also failed to increase the cigarette tax in 23 years , despite evidence-based research that supports tobacco tax increases to deter youth initiation and minimize consumption. While the AUMA initiative mandates that products will be required to be contained in childproof containers, there is the potential that marijuana companies would take advantage of the weak language for product regulations. The requirement for marijuana and marijuana products states that products may not be “designed to be appealing to children or be easily confused with commercially sold candy or foods that do not contain marijuana.” Because the intent of design is hard to determine and prove, an enforceable public health standard would replace “designed to” with “have the effect of” or “is known to be” appealing to children or easily confused with non-marijuana candy or food products. As discussed above, the CDPH will be required to develop product and testing standards consistent with voluntary codes set by industry organizations, which are unlikely to be strong enough to protect public health. Marijuana companies will be permitted to increase marijuana’s potency and addictiveness through other addictive substances or other additives that would make marijuana more toxic when inhaled, or palatable through flavors. From experience in tobacco and alcohol control, flavoring agents that enhance palatability create products that largely appeal to youth and young adults.New age products, such as e-cigarettes, also use flavoring agents in liquid nicotine that are attracting youth and young adults to these products. The initiative also fails to prohibit the use of other additives or ingredients that would mislead consumers into perceiving marijuana products as less harmful or beneficial or address fire safety.While the AUMA initiative requires the warning label be included on all marijuana and marijuana products, and packaging, including inserts, it fails to require warning labels be prominently displayed on all adverThisements and marketing materials. Large graphic warnings and plain packaging are proven strategies to reduce tobacco use, discourage nonsmokers from initiating, and encourage smokers to quit, and have become the global standard adopted widely outside the United States. While federal law preempts the authority of states and localities to implement these policies for tobacco , there are no statutory restrictions on California implementing such policies for marijuana. A public health framework for retail marijuana would ensure that health warning labels follow state of the art packaging requirements for tobacco products used in other countries around the world, including Canada, Australia, Brazil, and Uruguay. A public health framework for marijuana regulations would require warning labels on marijuana and marijuana products be large, prominently featured, and contain imagery in addition to text. Warning labels would provide clear, direct, and accurate information to the user of health risks associated with marijuana use and with exposure to secondhand marijuana smoke. Public health messages would include increased risk for addiction, cancer, reproductive toxicity, cardiovascular disease, respiratory, and neurological problems and would warn against driving a vehicle or operating equipment. The labels would be large on front and back, and not limited to just the sides. The language in the labels would be simple, at a reading level appropriate for the audience, including low literacy adults who are at greatest risk. Warning labels would include graphic images that provide factual information on the health risks associated with using marijuana as an intervention to prevent initiation and promote quitting. There would be several rotating warning labels that would be updated regularly, as new scientific evidence becomes available, to prevent “burn out” of stale warning labels.