STATEWIDE — Effective immediately, the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Revenue (DOR) and State Licensing Authority, Mike Hartman, adopted a single universal symbol for packaging, labeling and on-product marking of medical and retail marijuana, concentrate and product by removing the “M” from the existing medical symbol.

“The adoption of a single universal symbol is part of our ongoing effort to protect public health and safety by enhancing consumers’ ability to identify products containing marijuana and reducing confusion stemming from two distinct symbols,” Hartman said. “One truly universal symbol also works to simplify and improve industry compliance with regard to packaging and labeling.”

Streamlining the universal symbol is one of several recent improvements DOR has made to the State’s overall labeling framework in partnership with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) after a comprehensive review of the existing labeling requirements and extensive conversations with stakeholders during rulemaking.

"Whether it's used on retail or medical marijuana products, the universal symbol helps both consumers and non-consumers easily identify that a product contains THC and avoid unintentional ingestion,” said Karin McGowan, CDPHE’s deputy executive director. “We're confident that the integration of a single symbol will help streamline our public health message, which focuses on the importance of educating yourself, young people, and out-of-town guests about what the symbol means."

To further assist marijuana business licensees in their compliance efforts with these new packaging and labeling requirements, the Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) issued compliance checklists to help the industry understand the new rules and be aware of upcoming effective dates and deadlines as they phase out older versions of packages and labels.