Communicating THC levels and 'dose' to consumers: Implications for product labelling and packaging of cannabis products in regulated markets
Communicating THC levels and 'dose' to consumers: Implications for product labelling and packaging of cannabis products in regulated markets
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DOI：
10.1016/j.drugpo.2019.07.004
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发表时间：
2021-05-21
影响因子：
4.4
通讯作者：
Hammond, David
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Hammond, David
在一个监管良好的药品市场，消费者应该能够理解和滴定他们的剂量没有什么困难。在大麻市场，尽管四氢大麻酚水平随着时间的推移大幅增加，但用户对其产品的强度了解有限。原则上，大麻合法化提供了更多的机会，通过包装和标签标准向消费者传达明确、准确的信息。然而，大麻合法化的司法管辖区经历了更高强度产品的不良事件增加，特别是食用和其他浓缩物。很少有研究表明，由于消费者难以理解数字（例如，毫克与百分比），以及THC水平在产品类别中传达的不同方式。特别是，目前的标签做法在“剂量表达”方面几乎没有提供指导-THC“剂量”如何转化为特定产品的消费量。目前的文件确定了指导大麻标签和包装法规的五项原则，包括对数字THC标签的考虑，在不同产品形式中使用标准份量或剂量，传达“剂量表达”和“剂量单位包装”的策略。总体而言，受监管的大麻市场需要制定更有效的包装和标签标准，使消费者能够有效地滴定其THC摄入量，以促进低风险大麻的使用。
In a well-regulated drug market, consumers should be able to understand and titrate their dose with little difficulty. In the cannabis market, despite substantial increases in THC levels over time, users have had limited information on the strength of their products. In principle, cannabis legalization provides greater opportunity to communicate clear, accurate information to consumers through packaging and labelling standards. However, jurisdictions that have legalized cannabis have experienced an increase in adverse events from higher strength products, particularly from edibles and other concentrates. What little research exists suggests that current regulatory practices of labelling THC levels on packages may be ineffective due to consumer difficulties understanding numbers (e.g., mg vs. percentage), and the different ways THC levels are communicated across product categories. In particular, current labelling practices provide little guidance in terms of 'dose expression'-how THC 'dose' translates into consumption amounts for specific products. The current paper identifies five principles to guide cannabis labelling and packaging regulations, including considerations for numeric THC labelling, the use of standard servings or dose across different product forms, strategies to communicate 'dose expression', and 'dose-unit packaging'. Overall, there is a need for regulated cannabis markets to develop more effective packaging and labelling standards to allow consumers to effectively titrate their THC intake, with the goal of promoting lower-risk cannabis use.