The approval of cannabis flower for medical use continues to increase globally – written into UK law in 2018 – as healthcare professionals seek to take advantage of its ability to ease chronic pain, relax muscles, manage nausea and more.
But how is medical cannabis flower best stored, delivered and dispensed to the patient? As with any medicine, storage and integrity play a key role in the safe and effective administering.
Two of the most popular packaging products for medical cannabis flower are jars and bags – but which is most effective and why?
In this article, medical packaging experts at Origin explore the advantages and disadvantages of bags and jars for the storage and dispensing of medical cannabis flower…
The role of packaging in the use of medicinal cannabis flower
All medicines have unique and specific storage requirements – to keep them safe and maintain both quality and integrity until patient consumption.
These storage requirements will include recommendations on materials, temperatures, safety considerations and more, ultimately outlining how to best mitigate risks to the medicine’s effectiveness.
For example, inadequate packaging may cause product contamination or degradation – either from exposure to oxygen or other substances – as well as loss of potency. With medicinal cannabis, this means providing air-tight protection, as well as avoiding UV light and extreme temperatures.
But it’s not just quality considerations that the healthcare industry must contend with. Medical cannabis packaging must also meet regional regulations for safe and legal dispensing.
For example, in the UK, medicinal cannabis packaging must conform to the regulations set out in the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. This covers a range of requirements including labelling and information guidelines – such as dosage and patient consumption advice – as well as tamper-evident and child-resistant demands and marketing restrictions.
Key considerations for medicinal cannabis flower packaging
To meet both the product quality and legal requirements for medical cannabis flower packaging, some key considerations must be designed and developed into products, including jars and bags:
- Air-tight – to avoid product degradation. Exposure to oxygen can dry out the flower, affecting its potency and efficacy. This also avoids contamination through leakage.
- Temperature – extreme temperatures can also affect the potency of the medicine and potentially have drying effects. The packaging must be able to provide ample temperature regulation to keep the product fresh and maintain its integrity.
- Humidity – too much or too little moisture can impact medical cannabis flower by either encouraging mould growth or by drying the product. Packaging must provide a protective barrier to the medicine for suitable humidity control.
- UV light – UV light can be harmful to medicinal cannabis products, degrading the product and reducing its efficacy. Packaging, therefore, must provide UV light protection in its external barrier.
- Child resistance – as with any prescription medicine, child-resistant packaging is crucial. Jars or bags must be designed to prevent access to children – and ultimately, accidental ingestion of the product – while remaining simple to access for adults.
- Labelling – packaging products must also meet labelling requirements, including dosage and administering instructions, expiry dates, storage conditions and appropriate warnings. There are also restrictions around what cannot be included on medicinal cannabis flower labels, for example, claims about the product’s medical benefits that are not based on robust evidence.
Jars for medicinal cannabis flower
A range of HDPE plastic containers and glass jars are commonly used to store and dispense medicinal cannabis flower – offering a variety of protective properties that help to maintain the integrity of the medicine until patient consumption.
Firstly, jars provide an air-tight seal through screw lids, protecting against exposure to oxygen or extremes of temperature or humidity that can degrade the medicine and impact its potency and efficacy.
Plastic and glass jars also provide a sturdy and durable layer of protection for the medicine against damage in transport or storage. Plus, glass can be produced in protective colours, such as amber, to provide additional UV protection to maintain product quality.
The relatively simple design of packaging jars also means it is easy to add tamper-evident and child-resistant mechanisms and features. For example, single-use tearing strips can be attached to the lid for peace of mind that the container has not been opened before dispensing, while jar lids can be designed to require multiple simultaneous movements to open – preventing access to young children.
Ultimately, jars are the most effective and popular method for storing and dispensing medicinal cannabis flower – providing a desirable balance between protective properties that maintain medicine quality while also remaining portable and providing ample surface area for relevant informational labels and branding.
Bags for medicinal cannabis flower
While typically associated with recreational use, bags can also provide unique and positive use cases for storing and dispensing medical cannabis flower.
Bags provide a compact, lightweight and portable way of storing medicinal cannabis, while also providing a surface for relevant compliance labels and branding.
However, while bags can come with features such as resealable zip locks and protective tinted finishes, they do not provide the same level of humidity control as jars – due to the air-tight seal provided by jar lids, as well as greater temperature and UV light protection provided by plastic and glass containers. This is critical in maintaining the potency and integrity of the flower.
Medicinal cannabis flower packaging – bags vs. jars
| Jars | Bags | |
| Air-tight seal | Lid creates air-tight seal | Can come with resealable zips or locks |
| Temperature-resistance | HDPE plastic and glass jars provide heat-resistance | No effective temperature-resistant properties |
| Humidity-resistance | Air-tight lid provides humidity control within the container when attached. | Can be resealable to provide some humidity control within the bag. |
| UV light-resistance | Glass varieties can come in various colours to provide UV light protection | Provide little resistance to UV rays |
| Child-resistance/tamper-evidence | Can come fitted with mechanisms such as tearable strips and child-resistant lids | Can include features such as single-use strips and child-resistant locks |
| Labelling | Provide a printable surface for information labels | Provide a printable surface for information labels |
The future of medicinal cannabis flower packaging
As the demand for medicinal cannabis flower grows, the healthcare packaging industry must keep pace and continue innovating designs to aid dispensing without compromising product quality or safety.
The future of medicinal cannabis packaging is therefore likely to incorporate elements of smart packaging, such as integrated tools for tracking the temperature and humidity of the container in real time. These features will be invaluable in retaining the potency and efficacy of medicines until patient consumption.
Dosing innovations are also likely to improve the patient experience, including pre-measured doses or integration with apps that remind patients when to take their medicine.
Safety will always remain a key consideration as the market grows. This includes both in terms of patient safety and medicine quality – for example, through scannable QR codes that allow users to track the medicine’s journey – as well as child-proof innovations such as biometric locks that require a fingerprint or even compatibility with smartphones.
For more information on the future of medical cannabis flower – aside from just packaging innovations – check out Origin’s expert thoughts in our blog!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the ideal medical cannabis flower packaging?
The ideal cannabis flower packaging protects the quality of the medicine – by providing an air-tight seal as well as temperature and humidity resistance – while being child-resistant and incorporating important patient information.
HDPE plastic and glass jars are the most popular products for dispensing and storing medicinal cannabis flower, as they come with an air-tight lid and protective barrier that meets these requirements, as well as providing a surface for printing or attaching patient information.
