Montana Implements New Marijuana Labeling, Tracking and Recall Rules
- Montana marijuana businesses must comply with updated labeling rules requiring child-resistant, opaque packaging with state-mandated warnings and a QR code linking to substance-use resources, effective August 22.
- The revised seed-to-sale tracking rules mandate detailed tagging and inventory reconciliation protocols, including tagging plants at specific growth stages and daily reconciliation of inventories in the Metrc system.
- Packaging limits generally prohibit marijuana product packages exceeding five pounds, with exceptions for materials used solely for concentrates or wet whole plants immediately after harvest.
- The updated recall requirements obligate businesses to maintain a written recall plan, activate it within 24 hours of a recall event, notify the public within 48 hours, and complete recall actions within 30 business days to avoid administrative penalties.
Montana marijuana businesses are now subject to updated labeling, inventory tracking and product recall requirements recently adopted by the state Department of Revenue.
The department highlighted the changes in its September newsletter. The new labeling and seed-to-sale tracking rules took effect August 22, while the revised recall requirements took effect July 11.
Under the updated labeling rules, marijuana exit packaging must be child-resistant and opaque, contain all state-mandated warnings and include a state-provided QR code connecting consumers with substance-use resources.
The required warnings address anxiety, agitation, paranoia, psychosis and excessive vomiting, risks associated with marijuana use during pregnancy or nursing and the prohibition against driving under the influence. Dispensaries must also display a state-issued consumer education poster at every point of sale where it is clearly visible to customers.
The revised seed-to-sale rule establishes more detailed requirements for tagging, packaging, inventory reconciliation and recording harvests in Metrc.
Individual marijuana plants must receive a tracking tag once they reach 12 inches in height, with the tag physically attached by the time the plant reaches 18 inches. Marijuana items, test batches, harvest lots and process lots must also receive package tags.
Packages of marijuana flower, trim and other usable marijuana generally may not exceed five pounds. Exceptions apply to material designated solely for concentrate or extract production that will not undergo standard testing and to whole, wet plants packaged directly after harvest.
Licensees must reconcile on-site and in-transit inventories in the tracking system by 11:59 p.m. each day. The reconciliation requirements include ensuring recorded plant and product quantities match physical inventories, depleted packages are closed on the day they reach zero and completed harvest or process lots are marked finished the same day.
Testing laboratories may instead reconcile samples at the end of the applicable testing period, provided their records accurately reflect the amount consumed during testing.
The rule also requires businesses to record the wet weight of each harvested plant on the day it is harvested and schedule harvests in Metrc at least 72 hours in advance. Regulators said businesses may update or replace scheduled harvest entries when weather or other unexpected conditions require a change.
Montana’s revised recall rule requires most marijuana businesses to maintain a written, auditable recall plan identifying a recall coordinator and establishing procedures for isolating, retrieving, destroying and communicating information about affected products.
Recalls may be required when a business cannot prove that a product satisfied testing requirements, when a product failed testing and was not successfully remediated and retested or when testing was conducted improperly or was invalid.
Once a recall begins, the affected business must activate its recall plan within 24 hours and issue a press release or other public notification within 48 hours. Businesses must submit weekly progress reports and destroy or, when allowed, remediate affected products within 30 business days. Failure to comply may result in administrative action.