Donald Pitsch, Eden Prairie
Parallels to the alcohol industry are often drawn in discussions about regulating Minnesota’s cannabis retail market, which is set to begin in early 2025. This is just one of the many points raised in the Aug. 18 letter on legalization, titled “A Bad Idea? How?”
There are three features of alcohol commerce and regulation that provide some level of consumer protection: health warnings (e.g., risks of drunk driving, general health risks), concentration limits, and the availability of a lower-strength option (e.g., beer). Minnesota’s cannabis industry should follow suit and mandate these consumer protection features.
Health and safety warnings can now be based on decades of rigorous scientific work. For example, we know from several European studies that using high-potency cannabis (e.g., leaf products with THC levels above 10%) significantly increases the risk of psychosis, and numerous recent studies, including reports from the National Academy of Sciences and a panel of international experts in their 2017 report on guidelines for lower-risk cannabis use, conclude that there is moderate to strong scientific evidence that THC use is associated with impaired driving, harm to the unborn child, risk of addiction and damage to brain development, as well as other health problems. There should also be a requirement that all retail stores offer consumers lower-potency products (e.g., below 3%). Providing such options gives consumers choices that are potentially less harmful than the higher-potency products.
Minnesota’s future cannabis retail market can benefit from learning from alcohol industry regulations and standards.
