As the legal marijuana continues to grow at a rapid pace, more and more companies are looking for ways to move into the space. Most recently, this includes beverage giant Coca-Cola. The company is reportedly in talks with a Canadian cannabis company to begin producing a line of cannabis-infused drinks.
Coca-Cola Developing a New Cannabis Product
According to Bloomberg news, Coca-Cola is currently working with Canadian cannabis company Aurora Cannabis Inc. to develop a new line of marijuana-infused drinks. A partnership between the two companies could be massive.
On the one hand, Coca-Cola is the largest beverage company in the world. It is most well known for its signature drink Coke. But the company also makes tons of other popular drinks, including Sprite, Dasani water, Fanta, Powerade, and many others.
And while Aurora isn’t as large as Coca-Cola, it is fast becoming a giant in the cannabis space. In fact, the company is currently Canada’s third-largest marijuana business.
It reportedly has a market value above $6 billion. And the company is expected to see even more growth when Canada legalizes weed this October.
Now, the two massive companies may be teaming up to make a new line of cannabis products. More specifically, Coca-Cola is looking at the possibility of making a line of CBD drinks.
CBD is becoming very popular. While precise data can be hard to pin down, many experts predict that CBD alone will become a $2 billion industry by 2020.
In general, products that contain CBD but no THC are much easier to get onto the market. That’s largely because in places like the U.S., THC is technically what makes cannabis products illegal.
Coca-Cola apparently aims to take advantage of CBD’s growing popularity by making a new line of CBD drinks. At this point, it sounds like Coca-Cola’s cannabis beverage will be marketed as a health and wellness product.
“We are closely watching the growth of non-psychoactive CBD as an ingredient in functional wellness beverages around the world,” Coca-Cola spokesperson Kent Landers told Bloomberg. “The space is evolving quickly. No decisions have been made at this time.”
Marijuana Space Attracting Beverage Companies
Coca-Cola’s new interest in the cannabis space is in line with a growing trend. More and more, companies that have been around for a long time are beginning to explore the cannabis market. In many cases, companies are turning to marijuana as a way to expand, grow, and pick up additional momentum.
For example, many beverage companies like Coca-Cola have started turning to cannabis as a way to come up with new products and to expand their reach into new market sectors.
So far, there are at least four big beverage companies that are now exploring the cannabis space. These include:
- Corona beer recently said it will pour $3.8 billion into Canopy Growth Corp., a huge marijuana company based in Canada.
- Molson Coors Brewing Co. is now partnering with a Canadian marijuana company to make cannabis-infused drinks.
- The company that makes Guinness, Johnnie Walker, and Crown Royal is apparently talking with Canadian marijuana companies.
- Lagunitas beer recently started making a line of THC-infused drinks.
