State compiles pot shots
Catalog aims to help parents, cops, schools by showing what shops sell
The Cannabis Control Commission is launching an online catalog of the myriad marijuana products available at the state’s pot shops and dispensaries to help cops, parents and regulators alike tell the difference between what’s legal, and what’s not.
The first-in-the-nation regulators’ catalog won’t exactly compete with Leafly and Weedmaps — so don’t expect genetic information or flavor profiles.
Instead, the idea is to compile basic information and photos in one place so that police, regulators, consumers, and parents can get a better sense of the type of products that are part of the still-young legal cannabis world, and can tell the difference between what’s legal and what’s not.
“When using the Product Catalog, any visitor, such as a parent, school nurse, or public safety official, will be able to quickly distinguish whether a marijuana product is available in our legal marketplace or not,” CCC Executive Director Shawn Collins said. “Licensees are strictly prohibited from producing marijuana products or packaging that appeals to children, including anything that would resemble a popular candy brand. I am confident this tool will support our ongoing efforts to expand public awareness in Massachusetts while promoting public health and safety.”
The commission launched the catalog Monday with a limited set of capabilities.
Once it’s fully operational, users will be able to search by product name, keyword, product category and other identifiers to verify the ingredients, packaging and labels, potency, retail locations, and more about statesanctioned cannabis buds, vape products, edibles, prerolls and topicals.
Regulations prohibit edibles that are in the “distinct shape of a human, animal, fruit, or sporting-equipment item; or … including artistic, caricature, or cartoon renderings” in an attempt to block products that might appeal to children.
The idea for a database of products approved for sale in Massachusetts came about in 2018 after members of the CCC balked at a licensee’s request to manufacture pot-infused cake pops.
“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,” Britte McBride, then a member of the CCC, said at the time.
Collins has said the catalog would have come in handy in the fall of 2019, when the CCC banned the sale of vaping products amid a national outbreak of vaping-related lung disease.
He said the CCC “did not have the ability to search any database whatsoever of all ingredients that were included and specifically we didn’t have the ability to search for Vitamin E acetate,” which federal public health officials identified as a possible culprit in the illnesses.