Beyond concern about labels
It’s a tough call, whether companies soon to be marketing recreational marijuana should be allowed to brand their product. A precedent is in the works with tobacco, to deny manufacturers the right to have distinctive packaging. Some would extend that same caution to pot.
It’s an issue that government will ultimately have to grapple with – while hearing from proponents on both sides of the argument.
Garfield Mahood of Vancouver, president of the Campaign for Justice on Tobacco Fraud, campaigned for decades to get the federal government to force tobacco companies to use plain packaging.
It didn’t gain much ground, until 2016, when Health Minister Jane Philpott vowed to ban branding on cigarette boxes and a bill was introduced in the Senate.
Mahood says he has little faith in the feds following suit when it comes to marijuana products, expected to be legalized with regulated sale in place later this year.
The argument is that cannabis is a product that will raise concerns about health among users. On the other hand, the people in the industry say that marijuana, although perhaps not benign from a health point of view, is far less dangerous than tobacco, or alcohol for that matter.
We knew when the federal Liberals announced intentions to go ahead with legalization and controlled sales that, no matter how it’s done, we’re getting into uncharted territory. There will be questions and plenty of debate about how best to go about it.
A classic Pandora’s Box, perhaps, but the overall intent of the government is sound – acknowledging that laws have been ineffective in stopping use of marijuana and, by legalizing it, taking sales out of the hands of criminals.
Therein lies some of what this new, legitimate industry argues when it comes to branding. The various products will have different characteristics. In addition, spokespersons say packaging would be part of the experience in setting their legal product apart from the illegal stuff, ordinarily brought to you in a baggie.
Comparisons to alcohol sales are inevitable. As many have pointed out, not all whiskies are created equal, for example.
The connoisseur will go out of his way for the 18-yearold single malt rather than settle for the three-year-old blend. But it takes labelling and, like most things in retail, advertising to distinguish products and their appeal.
Prospective consumers of this newly legal product will expect that. More critical here, rather than denying producers the ability to brand, is to ensure that users have information about the risks of cannabis and means to get help if abuse does become problem.