Why is Marijuana Packaging taking so long and keeping me from getting to market?

1.      Understand your regulatory environment.

What are the packaging requirements?  What are the labeling requirements?  How do these requirements impact the particular product that you are launching?  Study this information yourself or assign someone on your team to do it.  It’s not hard, but it’s somewhat tedious and is open to much interpretation.  As you explore options for cannabis packaging you will need the person that has read the regulations as a reference and to continually go back and interpret the regulations based on the questions you have.  Pull the packaging specific regulations out, give copies of just that to your marijuana packaging development team, and have as a reference with notes and highlights for every meeting.  Involve your legal team from the beginning.  If you don’t have a legal team get an attorney.  A formal legal review is imperative before you go to market.

You may already have your product designed and ready to go.  Or possibly you are already on the market and just have to upgrade to child-resistant packaging.  If you’re just starting to develop your product consider yourself lucky.  Thinking about marijuana packaging at the early stages of product development will help to drive decisions and avoid frustration later.  We are going to make the assumption that you are required to implement child proof (or child resistant) packaging.  The child proof requirement narrows down your search for options.  Be flexible on the size of your product so it can fit in existing child proof marijuana packaging that is off the shelf.  Since child proof packaging requires third party certification, there are fewer options to choose from.  Start by doing a google search and request samples from everyone you possibly can.  Understand what MOQ (minimum order quantity) is, which could rule out some options.  After you get all of your samples of child proof marijuana packaging you will have to choose one that meets the basic physical requirements of your product.  This will narrow down decisions that have to be made in the following steps.

This step assumes that you already have your brand developed and understand what has to go on the package from the standpoint of regulatory required labeling.  Based on the packaging you choose, different decisions will have to be made about how to get it printed with your brand and required marijuana packaging regulatory labeling.  In the case of child proof box products, you will be required to purchase a minimum order and there will likely be a longer lead time than if you chose a sticker printing and application model which is more prominent in marijuana packaging today where child proof packaging is required.  Sometimes a box that isn’t child proof can be used in combination with a child proof marijuana package.  You must look carefully at your choices of marijuana packaging and assess whether they have enough space to print all of the labeling required.  There are options such as extended content (accordion or peel & reveal) labels, but those will drive up your costs.  Look for large, flat surfaces.  Be prepared to spend a significant amount of labor applying labels or consider hiring someone who has equipment to apply the labels for you.  Speaking of labor, be sure to assess the amount of labor that will be required for each of the options you are looking at.  Some child resistant packaging requires more assembly when you get it.  Such labor costs must be calculated into the total cost of packaging analysis.  Don’t make the mistake of only basing your packaging decision on the cost of the actual package itself.  Also consider labor cost for labeling and assembly.  Secondary labeling for batch specific information, potency results, etc. will also be required.  Try to implement as much labeling into your primary label as possible.

You’ve spent hours / days / weeks understanding the marijuana packaging and labeling regulations.  You’ve gotten samples and chosen child proof marijuana packaging that fits your product.  You’ve got a strategy for getting your brand and regulatory information on the package.  By now you’ve probably had multiple conversations with multiple suppliers of different types of marijuana packaging.  You may have settled on one that is the sole supplier of that product, or you may have chosen more of a commodity product like a bottle.  In any case it is paramount at this time that you discuss forecast and lead time with your supplier.  But you don’t have a forecast…  Your product could skyrocket the first week it’s on the market.  After all, this is cannabis!  With so many new marijuana products coming on the market, child proof marijuana packaging is becoming much more in demand.  The best thing you can do is develop a trusting relationship with your marijuana packaging supplier and be transparent with them about how your business is launching and growing.  The more they understand about when you will need packaging and how much, the more likely you will be to have it when you need it.  Imagine going through all of the design and steps to select your packaging and then having your supplier tell you it’s going to be 8 weeks.  Confirm that your supplier has inventory and can service you based on the forecast that you provide.

Again, this step assumes that you already have your brand developed and understand what has to go on the package from the standpoint of regulatory required labeling.  With these two inputs and the packaging selected you must finalize your artwork to fit on the packaging of choice.  Work with your supplier and get die lines for the artwork.  You might have a graphics designer in house, or you may outsource this service.  Regardless, the next step is to lay out the brand and regulatory information and make sure it fits.  Don’t be surprised if there might be an iteration at this step back to the “Size Up Your Product” step if the packaging won’t hold all of the information.  Also don’t be surprised if the packaging has to be significantly bigger than the actual product itself to be able to hold all of the required information.  It’s just the nature of the marijuana packaging challenge.  Establish quickly in the process who is required to sign off on artwork and have at least one or two extra people not involved in the process to just proofread before it is time to go to print.  Finally, have a formal sign off form and establish revision control (rev 1, rev 2, etc.) for each brand and product type.  In the medical device industry, approval of labeling always took a long time.  It is inevitable that you will need a legal review. Don’t miss the step of getting an attorney on board early to work with you through the regulatory approval process.  And finally, as frustrating as it will be, expect the regulations for labeling to change quickly after you complete your packaging design and launch your product.  The person you assigned to interpret the regulations must keep a sharp eye on labeling and packaging regulation changes.  Once again, carefully consider the flexibility of your packaging design.  Long warning statements, pesticides used, extraction method, multiple license numbers may not be required now, but they likely will be.  You don’t want to be stuck with high inventory of that beautiful packaging you developed only to be told that you have to put multiple stickers on it to make it compliant again.

All of the above steps and strategies are in place and you’re ready to “GO TO PRINT”.  You’ve identified a good supplier and have kept them in the loop during your packaging development.  Or have you?  If not be hopeful that there isn’t a 6-to-12-week lead time.  Again, the demand for marijuana packaging is accelerating.  I can’t stress enough the importance of working with your supplier early and making sure they can meet your launch lead time and demand.  Hence this BLOG.  Plan, plan, plan.  You’ve heard it before but planning for marijuana packaging is of utmost importance.  Speed to market could potentially be the difference between your brand being early in the game and snatching up market share…. Or not.  Don’t let packaging be the barrier.  When you get the packaging from your supplier be sure to inspect it.  Make sure that it matches the final approved proofs that were submitted.  If it’s wrong now you can fix it immediately if needed or wait until the next batch of production.  Consider ordering a small lot to get started even though it might cost more.  And, remember to be open and communicate with your supplier how your launch and your growth are going.  Give them every opportunity to not let packaging be what stops you from ramping your production and driving revenue.