[Episode 1] Cannabis Flavor Bans: Blazing the Path Forward

Regulators often don’t understand the important role of flavor in cannabis and cannabinoid products. Too often, we see native cannabis flavor being conflated with artificial non-cannabis flavor, which is how flavor is used in advertising and marketing to be attractive to youth, as witnessed in the tobacco industry.

This is evident with Florida’s proposed flavor ban, which for the first time, would have linked in the cannabinoid space the mere addition of any flavor to child attractiveness and risked setting a dangerous precedent for the rest of the country. Such language, once adopted by one jurisdiction, often spreads like wildfire.

Recognizing the potential for Florida's action to have impacts comparable to the first tobacco flavor ban out of San Francisco, we took action. We invested in ensuring a different outcome in Florida. Our strategy included a lot of education around the natural flavor diversity in cannabis which is distinguishable from tobacco. We were able to work with the bill author and members of the Legislature to have the concerning language removed — a huge benefit of all cannabinoid actors and all cannabinoid consumers.

This recent move not only protects true-to-plant and flavor-forward experiences, but also demonstrates Terpene Belt's dedication to safeguarding industry interests and consumer preferences from restrictive and misguided overregulation spreading nationwide.