New SICPA/Harris Poll Shows Consumers Support Regulation to Help Monitor Cannabis Products

A new nationwide study commissioned by SICPA North America, a leading provider of regulatory compliance solutions, and conducted online by The Harris Poll among more than 2,000 US adults shows broad support for securely labeling cannabis products to verify their legitimacy and safety in the marketplace.

Ensuring the safety of cannabis products is top of mind for Americans. A majority of Americans (83%) think states where cannabis is legal should require licensed cannabis producers to use secure labels that can’t be counterfeited on cannabis products to ensure potency and consumer safety, and half of Americans (50%) say they strongly agree with this.

Four in five Americans (80%) voiced their support for a program that would make it easier to detect legal vs. illegal cannabis products.

“The SICPA/Harris Poll shows that Americans feel strongly about ensuring that, where cannabis is legal, there is a way to verify whether products are safe and legitimate,” said Alex Spelman, VP at SICPA US. “The transition from cannabis being illegal to legal in many U.S. states brings with it the opportunity for illicit operators to capitalize on the demand without following regulatory guidelines designed to ensure public health and safety. Secure labels ensure confidence at the point of consumption where the health and safety risks of unregulated, illicit product are highest.”

In fact, many Americans would be willing to pay more for products they know they can trust. Two-thirds of Americans (67%) say if they were to purchase cannabis, they would pay more for cannabis products if they had a secure label that designated them as being from a licensed provider that adheres to safety and legal standards.

Unsecured products leave consumers at risk of using unsafe, tainted or recalled cannabis products and create opportunities for counterfeiting of legitimate brands and illicit sales of unregulated products.

“State regulators need to be better armed with efficient and effective ways to manage the rapidly growing industry and ensure patients and consumers access legitimately sourced and appropriately tested products,” said Spelman. “The SICPA/Harris Poll shows there is a broad appetite among Americans for a more tightly regulated cannabis market and they are willing to pay extra for that assurance.”

Medical cannabis programs have been adopted by nearly 40 states and increasing numbers of states are also enabling recreational or adult use programs. Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is estimated that in 2019, 18% of the US population, 48 million people, consumed cannabis at least once.

With a broad array of products and consumption options – flower, concentrates, edibles, tinctures, topicals – consumers and state enforcement resources are confronted with a dizzying array of product options and potencies. 

The SICPA/Harris Poll suggests that Americans support secure labeling on cannabis products for assurance they have been legitimately sourced and appropriately tested.

SICPA is a trusted provider of product security, revenue realization, and track and trace solutions for regulated products like pharmaceuticals, tobacco, alcohol and soft drinks to government and industry worldwide.

Its SICPATRACE technology also provides states and countries with a secure, comprehensive mechanism for capturing and analyzing data, and information on the activities of licensed cannabis operators to ensure compliance with local laws and regulatory provisions. SICPA also provides operators and regulators with the tools to enable their products to be protected, differentiated and verified as legitimate.

This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of SICPA between Sept. 9-13, 2021 among 2,054 adults ages 18+. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.