Proposed Solution:

Mental Health Warnings on Cannabis Products in New York State  

With the expansion of cannabis legalization, it is essential that New York State cannabis products are required to have a standardized mental-health warning to inform consumers of the potential mental-health risks that are associated with cannabis use, particularly with frequent use or high potency products. Although New York currently requires a general warning that there may be health risks associated with cannabis consumption, [that warning is vague and therefore can be easily dismissed] it does not specifically require a warning addressing the potential mental-health risks. The current label is insufficient because it does not provide crucial, and potentially life changing, information. As evidence continues to demonstrate a link between cannabis use and adverse mental-health outcomes, New York State officials have a responsibility and an opportunity to strengthen consumer warnings. Requiring warning labels that provide comprehensive, evidence based information would help protect public health and enable consumers to make informed decisions about cannabis use. 

The current warning labels in New York State are required to include nutritional information, ingredients, expiration dates, usage instructions, a warning label to not use if pregnant or nursing, a warning about the physical health risks to lungs, the potential addictive nature, and to not use if under 21 years of age. However, there is not a requirement to address the mental-health risks. A final warning on the package is another precaution that can be taken to promote awareness of the risks. Caroline J Meek, Leah M Ranney, Sonia A Clark, Kristen L Jarman, Rachel Callanan, and Sarah D Kowitt conducted a study of the warning labels on cannabis products across the 50 states, and referenced evidence from Canada that shows that well designed cannabis warning labels can “increase notice and recall of warning content, suggesting they are a promising strategy to inform consumers about cannabis risks.” 

While legalized in NY as of 2021, according to the New York State Office of Cannabis Use, the general public remains uneducated on the true harm that can follow frequent use. The National Library of Medicine published a study, done by Samantha Goodman and David Hammond, analyzing the perception of the health risks of cannabis use among the general public in the United States and Canada. Across the study, only 23-37% of respondents correctly recognized the risk of developing schizophrenia or psychosis with regular cannabis use. By comparison, 66-80% agreed with statements recognizing health risks on driving after cannabis use, 61-70% on breastfeeding and pregnancy, and 51-62% on addiction, leaving mental health disorders as the risk that the least amount of responders were aware of. Additionally, US studies “indicate decreasing cannabis risk perceptions over time among adolescents and adults”. The Trump Administration is reclassifying marijuana as “less dangerous,” according to a Wall Street Journal article published on April 23, 2026. However, many doctors and researchers claim that, actually, marijuana can pose significant risks to people’s health, according to the Wall Street Journal. Legalization, and this reclassification, can contribute to this decrease of risk awareness because the public may be led to believe that cannabis is without the risks it possesses. 

A 2024 study published in Psychological Medicine found that adolescents who reported cannabis use had an 11.2-fold higher risk of developing a psychotic disorder than those who did not. Similarly, a study published by JAMA Network involved 463,396 adolescents and 26,345 self-reported past year cannabis use. It was found that past year cannabis use was associated with a significantly increased risk of incident psychotic, bipolar, depressive, and anxiety disorders by age 26. A study from the United Kingdom led by Lindsey A Hines, Jon Heron, and Stanley Zammit found that “use of high potency cannabis at age 16 or 18 was associated with twice the likelihood of experiencing incident psychotic experiences from age 19-24 (Odds Ratio 2.15, 95% Confidence Intervals 1.13-4.06).”  These results highlight the importance of effective public health messaging, prevention efforts, and warnings to limit youth exposure to cannabis as legalization expands nationwide. 

A study conducted by Carlos Gantiva, Joseph Illidge-Cortes, Danna González-Millares, Valentina Maldonado-Hoyos, and Laura Valencia aimed to examine the effectiveness of different types of cannabis warning labels (pictorial vs text-only, background color, warning themes). Participants were randomly assigned to five different packages: without warning, text-only white warning, text-only yellow warning, pictorial yellow warning, and pictorial white warning. It was found that pictorial health warnings, and especially pictorial health warnings with a yellow background, were found to “decrease product appeal and interest in trying cannabis products, as well as increase harm perception compared to other designs.” The researchers also found that mental health, smoke toxicity, aesthetic implications, and traffic accidents were the most effective warning labels tested. These findings suggest that mental-health warnings can be a successful way to communicate the risks of cannabis use to consumers. However, New York State does not require standardized mental health warnings on cannabis products. 

A study referenced earlier concluded that, “Opportunities exist for states to improve the alignment of their nonmedical cannabis warning label regulations with evidence that has been generated so far in cannabis effects, cannabis warning efficacy, and warning label design.” 

As a whole, this evidence suggests that there is a gap between what consumers currently see on cannabis warning labels and what research suggests they need to be aware of in order to make an informed decision. While existing warnings do communicate several important health risks associated with cannabis use, they do not specifically address any mental-health related effects of the drug. Given the evidence that consumers have relatively low awareness of these risks and that warning labels can effectively increase risk perception, New York State should strengthen its existing cannabis labeling requirements by including a standardized mental-health warning. 

Recommendation: 

New York State should require a standardized mental-health warning across all cannabus products sold for adult recreational use. The warning should be clearly visible on the product's outermost packaging and use consistent wording across products. The warning should specifically communicate the potential relationship between cannabis use and mental-health outcomes while identifying factors associated with increased risk, including frequent use, high-THC products, and use beginning at a young age. The warning should be designed to attract attention without obscuring other required product information. Research on cannabis warning labels suggests that visually prominent warnings, including pictorial warnings and warnings using a yellow background, can increase perceptions of harm and decrease interest in trying cannabis products. New York State should require the following mental-health warning to appear in a standardized, highly visible format, such as a contracting yellow warning box accompanied by an appropriate health-related image (according to the highline, the current warning label background is white). 

WARNING: Cannabis use may increase the risk of psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other mental-health disorders. Risk may be greater with frequent use, high-THC products, and use beginning at a young age.