Coca-Cola is monitoring the emerging industry and interested in drinks mixed with CBD. It is a non-psychoactive element found in marijuana that treats pain and other medical issues. BNN Bloomberg Television reported that the soft drinks titan is in talks with Aurora Cannabis (Canadian marijuana manufacturer) to produce the beverages.
The spokesperson for Coca-Cola, Kent Landers said in an emailed statement forwarded to Bloomberg News that they are deeply analyzing the growth of non-psychoactive CBD as an ingredient in functional wellness beverages around the world. He added that space is growing very quickly. The company hasn’t yet announced its decisions regarding launching the new product. He didn’t say any comment about Aurora. The shares of Aurora grew on the news with jumping as much as 23% on Monday in New York to $8. Other stocks in the cannabis industry also experienced a significant amount of increase.
The attempt of Coca-Cola into the marijuana sector is pointing as the beverage manufacturers are looking to include cannabis as a trendy ingredient. Coca-Cola also announced about acquiring the Costa Coffee chain for 5.1 billion U.S dollars in the month of August. The company has extended to other products such as juice, mineral water, and tea. The company’s discussions with Aurora are targeted on CBD-infused drinks. The adding of CBD would ease pain and some other medical problems. The cannabidiol or CBD is the chemical in the pot plant generally used as medicine.
A spokeswoman for Aurora, Heather MacGregor said in a statement that the company has expressed a targeted interest in the sector of infused-beverage. It is important that marijuana is still illegal in the U.S. There is an increasing acceptance of CBD use collected from marijuana for the treatment. Aurora is the 3rd largest pot company in Canada with a market value of 8.7 billion U.S dollars.