By Benjie Cooper
IG: @nuglifenews
YouTube: Lucid’s Vlog
Many decades have passed since the Coca-Cola Company (Coke) stopped using cocaine in the manufacturing of their products, though they still use processed coca leaves for flavoring in the company’s flagship cola.
While the original drink contained cocaine and caffeine and was intended for therapeutic purposes, Coke hasn’t been in the business of producing medicinal products in many decades. But that might be about to change.
According to BNN Bloomberg, Alberta-based Aurora Cannabis Inc. stocks experienced a 23% jump on Monday after word came out that Coke was in talks with the company to develop cannabis-infused beverages.
“Aurora has expressed specific interest in the infused beverage space, and we intend to enter that market,” said Aurora communication’s director Heather MacGregor in an emailed statement. “There is so much happening in this area right now and we think it has incredible potential.”
But while alcohol companies have announced their interest in entering Canada’s impending recreational cannabis market over the past year, Coke is looking at producing therapeutic drinks infused with non-psychoactive cannabidiol (CBD) rather than THC.
“With many others in the beverage industry, we are closely watching the growth of non-psychoactive CBD as an ingredient in functional wellness beverages around the world,” wrote the company in an online statement on Monday. “The space is evolving quickly. No decisions have been made at this time.”
According to current estimates by Brightfield Group and others, the CBD market is poised to become a flourishing multi-billion dollar industry within a few years.
