The paraphernalia marketplace of the 1970s was grounded in two things: America’s increasing interest in recreational marijuana use, and a struggling economy that searched for any opportunity for growth. During a period of “stagflation” and long gas lines, cannabis created its own thriving industry, from people whittling wooden pipes in their garages to major companies importing incense and beaded curtains from India. These legal products (used to enjoy a still-illegal substance) were freely available, in places like head shops, record stores, even 7-Elevens. These products also sold extremely well: by 1977, paraphernalia was bringing in $250 million annually. (For comparison, the original Star Wars grossed just $216 million that year.)
Still, there were no regulations on what these products looked like, to whom they were sold, or which demographics seemed targeted in their ads. A 1978 New York Times article found that three children, aged 11 to 13, were able to purchase $300 worth of paraphernalia with no questions asked. Paraphernalia’s often blatant appeal to kids became the decriminalization movement’s undoing because it was easy for parent activists to draw a line between a spaceship-shaped bong and rising rates of adolescent marijuana use.
There is something distinctly different going on today. In most of the 10 states that have legalized recreational marijuana use, clear regulations seek to prevent cannabis products, at least edible products, from appealing to kids. In California, edibles can’t look like regular candies or baked goods, and in Colorado, edibles can’t be shaped like “humans, animals, fruit or cartoons.” There are limits on the potency of individual servings, and nearly all states require products to come in “child-resistant” packaging (though what qualifies as “resistant” varies). As an additional measure, most states also require the “universal symbol” (a diamond with an exclamation point and the letters “THC”) on all cannabis products, notifying users they’ve purchased an intoxicant.
In some ways, this new wave of restrictions should be a relief, especially to parents. Legislators seem to have actually learned something from the past; after all, if appealing to kids killed the decriminalization movement of the 1970s, banning kid-oriented products should help preserve the current era of legalization. By prohibiting the sale of legal cannabis to anyone under 21 and barring the production of cartoony edibles, legalized states are doing something right.