You may have read in Whispers last week that the state’s new medical marijuana market has mango and lemon flavored gummies, but to the eye they might as well be blueberry.
“ABC said no to the mango and lemon colors,” said Robert Lercher of Bold Team LLC in Cotton Plant, which is making about 5,400 gummies a day with a retail price of about $5 apiece.
The lemon and mango gummies, like their original grape siblings, will remain a deep blue.
The company’s ediBold gummies have been a hot seller at the state’s few open dispensaries, but the state worried that yellow and orange colors might tempt children. Under the law, all marijuana products must be sold in child-resistant containers.
The Medical Marijuana Commission’s rules “prohibit edibles in the form of a brownie, candy or cookie, but dispensaries may offer products that do not fall within these categories as long as they do not in any way appeal to children,” said Scott Hardin of the Arkansas Department of Finance & Administration, which oversees enforcement through its Alcoholic Beverage Control division.
“Regarding gummies, we’ve encouraged the use of muted colors to ensure it does not resemble any commercially available children’s product.”
Bold Team’s marijuana vape pens hit the market last week. “We are sold out… just like the gummies when they first hit the market,” Lercher reported Thursday, adding that production of the vape line will also increase soon.
“Currently we’re waiting for distillate being tested at Steep Hill to fill more pens.” Steep Hill Arkansas is a potency and purity testing company in west Little Rock.
The state’s other operating cannabis cultivators — Osage Creek Cultivation in Berryville and Natural State Medicinals in White Hall — are working to produce gummies, but none have hit the market yet.
The state’s operating dispensaries are Doctor’s Orders and Green Springs Medical in Hot Springs, Arkansas Natural Products in Clinton, Greenlight Dispensary in Helena, Native Green Wellness in Hensley and Fiddler’s Green in Mountain View.
