Taste the Feeling?: Coca-Cola considers adding cannabis to a new line of drinks

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This week Coca-Cola announced that it has been toying with the idea of adding a special ingredient to a new line of drinks.

Monday, the company released a statement saying it is now “closely watching” the use of CBD in “functional wellness” beverages. “The space is evolving quickly,” Coca-Cola spokesman Kent Landers told Bloomberg News. “No decisions have been made at this time.”

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According to the corporation, they are “in talks” with Aurora Cannabis, a Canadian marijuana producer. While an increasingly fitness conscious public has caused sugary soda sales to slow down, Reuters notes that conversely, the popularity of health drinks are on the rise.

For those who are worried about getting high from any of these beverages, have no fear. Unlike THC, the compound in cannabis that causes shifts in mood, CBD is non-psychoactive. Plus, there’s a long list of valuable health benefits such as being anti-inflammatory, anti-nausea, and anti-seizure benefits. Since it doesn’t cause intoxication, CBD products are often marketed as having some of the benefits of smoking marijuana without worrying about the altered state puffing up causes.

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According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, CBD is still a Schedule 1 narcotic like marijuana in the U.S. However, since Canada has legalized recreational marijuana, manufacturers have been showing more and more interest in producing cannabis-infused products over there; making it a testing ground until the U.S. catches up.

Despite this technicality though, DEA spokeswoman Katherine Pfaff, says companies making CBD drinks are allowed to skirt the law because agents are more focused on drug traffickers and the increasing opioid crisis – therefore leaving CBD enforcement up to local police.

To make things even more confusing, CBD is actually considered legal in some states where medical or recreational marijuana is permitted.

If Coca-Cola decides to follow through with this plan for weed-infused beverages, it would become the first non-alcoholic manufacturer to make cannabis-related drinks.

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