Pot cake pops under wraps
Cannabis board looks into edibles that may appeal to kids
Massachusetts regulators want to keep a close eye on the types of marijuana products that will be for sale to adults once marijuana retailers open and whether those products might appeal to children, a concern prompted yesterday by an applicant seeking to make marijuana cake pops. The Cannabis Control Commission agreed yesterday to begin compiling a database of the marijuana edibles or marijuana-infused products approved for sale in Massachusetts so that regulators, consumers, parents and law enforcement can get a better sense of what type of products are out there. “As we are seeing more products that are being made available,” Commissioner Britte McBride said, “I think that starting to collect a database on what those products are, what they look like . ... I think it probably is going to be a useful tool for us to have, but it’s also going to be a useful tool moving forward for other enforcement entities to have as we are thinking about making sure that we are preventing diversion to kids.” The CCC’s regulations prohibit edibles that are in the “distinct shape of a human, animal, or fruit; or ... A shape that bears the likeness or contains characteristics of a realistic or fictional human, animal, or fruit, including artistic, caricature, or cartoon renderings” in an attempt to block products that might appeal to children. What raised some concern at the CCC’s meeting yesterday was a proposal from Attleboro-based Ashli’s Extract LLC to make a series of marijuana-infused products and edibles, including cookies, lemon squares and, specifically, cake pops, a sort of cake-based lollipop. McBride said cake pops caught her attention and she wondered how cake pops would be made to adhere to the CCC’s regulations and how the CCC’s required symbols indicating that the product contains marijuana could be affixed to them. “I can say that, literally, the only people I’ve ever seen with a cake pop in my life are my 8-year-old and my 5-year-old,” McBride said. Commissioner Shaleen Title said, “When I heard cake pops — and probably all of us who have young children — it did give us pause.” The CCC approved 10 other provisional licenses yesterday.