How To Open Cannabis Child-Resistant Packaging

Child-resistant closures are hard to open by design. The best products go through many rounds of rigorous lab tests to ensure that young children cannot access the contents of the containers.

This is good news for cannabis brands since regulators hold these products to high child protection and safety standards. However, what are the actual mechanisms at work in today’s best child-resistant packaging solutions?

Let’s look at the most popular cannabis product types and see how child-resistant closures work in each case.

1. Resealable Bags

Flexible packaging solutions are rising in every industry, and cannabis is a prime example. Materials like Mylar offer outstanding barrier properties that protect everything from cannabis flower to edibles. Child-resistant seals are now integrated without detracting from the look and feel of the packaging.

How do child-resistant mechanisms operate with resealable bags? The standard zip-lock seals on sandwich bags won’t do the job, so a more subtle seal method is used.

In Dymapak’s lab-certified child-resistant bags, a multi-layered seal is implemented with a singular pressure point, indicated by a grey dot on the bag. The user must push down in the grey dot while pulling at a secondary lower slit that runs along the seal. At the same time, the user pulls from inside the top of the bag where the opening is located.

Simply pulling open the bag at the top with the traditional approach will keep the bag closed tight, and only the grey-dot pressure technique will result in the bag opening. This ensures that children cannot access the bag’s contents, while seniors can still perform the technique without relying on pure strength.

2. Vape Cartridge Insert Bags

Vape cartridges are delicate and are often found in hard-to-open plastic blister packs. However, even adults may find these packages challenging to break open using scissors and brute force.

A new alternative introduces the pressure-dot opening technique explained above, requiring the precise placement of the thumb with simultaneous pressure against the top of the seal.

This allows adults and seniors to safely open the package without resorting to frustrating methods using scissors, blades, or sheer application of strength.

The result is a package that protects the vape insert from children while allowing reasonably easy access for those who know the proper technique.

3. RYO Pouches

Roll-your-own tobacco and cannabis products are making their way to bag and pouch formats using new and improved child-resistant features. These mechanisms vary based on the format, but a similar press-and-lift method is the most effective for preservation and protection.

These features have the dual effect of locking in moisture within the package while ensuring children cannot access the contents by simply ripping and pulling at the seal.

Only adults that closely read the instructions and apply pressure at the correct spot can open the pouch, followed by a simple reseal method that locks everything in place.

4. Tin Cylinders and Vials

Classic cylindrical containers are favorite in the cannabis world, and individual vials are perfect for holding pre-rolls and smaller buds. These formats have featured child-resistant seals for decades, relying on push-and-twist techniques to ensure their inaccessible to children.

The process is intuitive for adults who have used OTC and pharmaceutical products, but children under five still lack the strength and dexterity to open them.

The concept is simple: press down on the top of the container and twist the top in a specific direction until the lock is released. Once the contents have been used, another press-and-twist locks it back into place.

Newer methods like squeeze-and-twist seals have also emerged in cannabis and OTC drug products, and some containers require users to align arrows to release the locks. These techniques vary in efficacy, so always choose lab-certified solutions for your cannabis products.

5. Glass Jars and Dropper Bottles

Liquid cannabis products like oils and tinctures are highly concentrated and dangerous to children, requiring high barriers to access with the best child-resistant features available.

Push-and-twist formats are the most commonly used with glass jars that use droppers to administer liquids. Opening these requires a high degree of dexterity and exact pressure at the perfect angle, which children under five cannot successfully navigate.

If children try to pull at the seal with strength alone, the dropper will not budge. This prevents curious kids from accessing oils and tinctures in the medicine cabinet or elsewhere.

6. Topical Lotion Pumps and Tubes

Many cannabis and CBD products are now available in topical formulations, from cremes and lotions to other topical solutions for direct skin applications. These products take many forms, but the child-resistant requirements remain strong.

Lotion pumps, for example, can be made child-resistant through a push-and-twist lock mechanism, which keeps the pump in a repressed position.

Other creams in shallow cylinder containers may need a squeeze-twist top and are often paired with arrow-alignment puzzles that only adults can figure out.

No matter how much twisting and pulling a child may try to open these containers, they will be stumped by the child-resistant barriers and protected from any possible hazard.

7. Concentrate Applicators and Dispensers

Companies must protect highly concentrated cannabis products like waxes and viscous oils to the most significant degree. The challenge is finding a packaging solution that protects the contents while allowing adults to apply precise amounts safely and consistently.

Solutions like Dymapak’s unique Twistspenser applicator give brands the best of all worlds, with a child-resistant twist cap and a lipstick-style design for precise dispensing. The format is child-resistant, and no outer packaging is needed, allowing for extra convenience and portability.

Give Your Child-Resistant Products the Lab-Tested Advantage

There’s no room for error regarding child-resistant packaging for your cannabis products. From flower and edibles to concentrates and creams, make sure your products meet the rigorous standards of the PPPA and any new regulations that may emerge.

Dymapak is a leader in the child-resistant packaging industry, helping cannabis brands secure and protect products without compromising your unique style and branding. Look through our winning packaging solutions for your products and give customers the assurance they deserve.

Sources:

Testing Procedure for Special Packaging | Cornell Law School

$23.83 Billion Cannabis Packaging Markets | BusinessWire

Cannabis Regulation Fact Sheet | The Network for Public Health Law