Problems with packaging, flavoring
Packaging the new beverages was an early hiccup, said Matt Maurer, a cannabis attorney with the Toronto firm Torkin Manes. Traditional aluminum cans have thin liners that can draw cannabinoids out of suspension.
“The cans that were proposed to be used would basically take the potency away from the drink,” he told Hemp Indutstry Daily. “So they had to sort of reformulate their packaging, figure out how they were going to deal with that challenge.”
Maurer said he also heard about companies that were struggling to get the flavor right – and in a way that the product wouldn’t separate in the packaging over a long period of time and sink to the bottom.
“I think a lot of producers underestimated the potential challenges they were going to have, and they needed more time to sort out those challenges,” he said.
It’s not impossible, however, to launch a successful cannabis drinks business, said Scott Van Rixel, founder and former CEO of Bhang! Chocolate, a cannabis company that sells various CBD products.
“Look, there are some cannabis beverages in the marketplace already in Canada, that’s a fact,” Van Rixel said. “I think that people had this assumption that it was a very simple process to just put THC into a beverage and away you go. And there’s a little more complexity from a chemistry standpoint.”
After some delays, cannabis giant Canopy Growth began shipping its own marijuana-infused drinks throughout Canada last month.
https://hempindustrydaily.com/beset-by-delays-canadian-cbd-drink-market-looking-for-expanded-future/