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An employee at a Massachusetts dispensary makes pre-rolls in the kitchen in May 2022. They are measured afterwards to be exactly one gram. Credit: Yehyun Kim / ctmirror.org

A bill that requires cannabis retailers and pharmacists to print labels on certain medications and cannabis products warning consumers to keep them out of the reach of children passed the Connecticut General Assembly’s Committee on Children on Thursday. 

House Bill 6718 also requires that the state’s Department of Consumer Protection develop a public awareness campaign to encourage safe storage of the products.

The aim is to keep children from accidentally ingesting the drugs, co-chair Rep. Liz Linehan (D-Cheshire) said.

Lawmakers moved the bill along soon after a presentation from the Office of the Child Advocate that included information about the growing problem of injury and death to children from opioid ingestion.

Ginny is CT Mirror's children's issues and housing reporter. She covers a variety of topics ranging from child welfare to affordable housing and zoning. Ginny grew up in Arkansas and graduated from the University of Arkansas' Lemke School of Journalism in 2017. She began her career at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette where she covered housing, homelessness, and juvenile justice on the investigations team. Along the way Ginny was awarded a 2019 Data Fellowship through the Annenberg Center for Health Journalism at the University of Southern California. She moved to Connecticut in 2021.