White Claws and Moscow Mules might be all the rage in the alcohol world, but cannabis is making a move to the beverage world as well. It might seem like a crazy idea to sip a marijuana-infused drink rather than smoke it or try an edible, but that could very well be an option moving forward. There seems to be one large, overwhelming issue with the idea of a drink infused with weed: very few people are interested in the idea of a cannabis-based drink.
Who’s Making These Drinks
It really boils down to alcohol companies wanting to take advantage of the legalization of cannabis. With the expanding weed industry making the purchase of marijuana legal in more areas, alcohol manufacturers are worried that this alternative option for intoxication will put a damper on their business. As a result, they’re trying to find a way to corner some part of the market. The problem is that even now, cannabis-based drinks make up only 2-3% of cannabis product sales, and it’s unlikely to increase much.
Why Not Cannabis-Based Drinks?
There are a few reasons that cannabis-based drinks aren’t the most popular delivery system. First (and according to most users of the product, foremost), most of the drinks have the unmistakable taste of bong water, which means they are just plain unappetizing. No one wants to drink anything that actually tastes like pot. But, beyond that, there are plenty of other reasons these products are problematic.
Most weed users know the dosage that it takes to get the type of high and the length of high that they are after. The dosage of these drinks varies quite a bit, and since marijuana tolerance is very different than alcohol tolerance, people already tend to struggle to find products that give them the kind of dosage that they need. Already, cannabis edibles can be challenging to dose correctly, whereas beverages are even more difficult to calculate the right amount. Some people will need to drink only part of one cannabis-based drink and some will need to drink several to get close to experiencing the high they want. Alcohol takes almost no time to enter the bloodstream. Cannabis taken through a beverage takes a while to kick in. This makes it difficult to gauge how much you can consume before reaching your limit. All in all, cannabis beverages are tricky to dose and hard to make taste good, so it’s unclear how this type of delivery system will grow in the industry.
What Does the Future Hold for THC Drinks
The fact is that being high doesn’t feel at all like being drunk, and the fact that alcohol companies are trying to create products centered around the idea that it does creates fundamental issues with their products. Weed enthusiasts can see this problem a mile off, and that means a major portion of the audience for cannabis drinks is unlikely to get behind the product. Of course, the market is unpredictable and it is possible that a product that meets the needs of those who use weed regularly will be successful. But at this point, the future of cannabis-based drinks is unclear.
