Colorado could soon require marijuana-infused edibles to be labeled with a red stop sign warning under a new draft rule released by regulators on Wednesday.
The rule, meant to discourage children from eating marijuana edibles, would require producers of edibles to place an octagon stop sign shape on their food with the letters "THC," warning of marijuana's main psychoactive chemical. The symbol would have to be placed on each individual edible, rather than just labels, according to the Associated Press.
Lawmakers are also considering banning the word "candy" from appearing on all edible products, AP reported.
The proposal would also ban pre-made edible items, meaning manufacturers would not be allowed to buy bulk candy and spray it with cannabis oil.
The state already bans manufacturers from placing cartoon characters on packaging or using "look-alike" products designed to mimic popular foods, according to AP.
The newly proposed rules will go up before a public hearing before final adoption.
While the stop sign labels are meant to warn children, some unsuspecting adults could benefit as well by being reminded to stop and consider what they are ingesting.
It's nearly impossible to overdose on marijuana - there's no record of anyone ever dying as a direct result of eating or smoking the plant - but the effects can become quite overwhelming after consuming edibles, even for experienced users.
Shortly after Colorado legalized marijuana in January, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd traveled to the state to try out some legal pot and see what the fuss was about, but ended up getting a bit more than she expected.
All marijuana edibles are labeled with the correct dosage, but Dowd ate too much of a pot-laced chocolate bar and proceeded to have what some called a paranoid meltdown. She described the experience in a Times column:
"I felt a scary shudder go through my body and brain. I barely made it from the desk to the bed, where I lay curled up in a hallucinatory state for the next eight hours. I was thirsty but couldn't move to get water. Or even turn off the lights. I was panting and paranoid, sure that when the room-service waiter knocked and I didn't answer, he'd call the police and have me arrested for being unable to handle my candy.
"I strained to remember where I was or even what I was wearing, touching my green corduroy jeans and staring at the exposed-brick wall. As my paranoia deepened, I became convinced that I had died and no one was telling me."
Country music legend and longtime toker Willie Nelson chuckled upon hearing of Dowd's experience, saying, "Maybe she'll read the label now!"
Nelson, an outspoken marijuana legalization advocate, said that he avoids edibles due to how easy it is to eat too much.
"The same thing that happened to you happened to me one or two times when I was not aware of how much strength was in whatever I was eating," Nelson told the Times. "One time, I ate a bunch of cookies that, I knew they were laced but I didn't worry about it. I just wanted to see what it would do, and I overdid it, naturally, and I was laying there, and it felt like the flesh was falling off my bones."
He continued: "Honestly, I don't do edibles. I'd rather do it the old-fashioned way, because I don't enjoy the high that the body gets. Although I realize there's a lot of other people who have to have it that way, like the children that they're bringing to Colorado right now for medical treatments. Those kids can't smoke. So for those people, God bless 'em, we're for it."
Last year, Colorado dispensaries launched a campaign to encourage new users to first take a 5 milligram half-dose of marijuana to test the waters.
