“Stop sign” may be on packages

Edible marijuana products in Colorado may soon come labeled with a red stop sign, according to a draft of new rules released Tuesday by state marijuana regulators.

The state may also ban the word “candy” from edible pot products, even if they’re sweets such as suckers or gummy chews.

The new pot symbol — an octagon stop-sign shape with the letters “THC” to indicate marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient — would have to be on individual edible items, not just labels. Liquid marijuana products would be limited to single-serve packaging — defined as 10 milligrams of THC.

Regulators rejected an earlier proposal to mark edible pot with a weed-leaf symbol after a parents’ group claimed the symbol would simply attract children, not dissuade them.

The proposed rules were released as the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division works on new guidelines for edible marijuana, which can be baked into cookies or brownies or added to sodas, pasta sauces or granolas.

The agency tried and failed last year to implement a requirement that edible marijuana have a distinct look when outside of its packaging, a requirement passed by state lawmakers last year amid concerns that some people were accidentally eating food infused with cannabis.

The state already banned pot manufacturers from using cartoon characters on packaging or making “lookalike” products such as candies designed to mimic common foods. But the state has seen sporadic reports of people unknowingly eating pot. Perhaps most famous was a man hospitalized after unknowingly eating pot-infused chocolate at the 2014 Denver County Fair.

The new edible pot rules face a public hearing before final adoption.

Marijuana regulators in Colorado have until January to implement a 2014 law requiring edible marijuana to have a distinct look when outside its packaging.