Coca-Cola could soon add a surprising ingredient to some of its drinks

Coca-Cola is in talks with a major Canadian cannabis company about creating a non-psychoactive cannabis drink. Many sources familiar with the discussions told BNN Bloomberg that the 132-year-old cola company was in "serious" talks with Aurora Cannabis, a large marijuana company based in Vancouver, Canada.

According to these sources, Coke is not interested in creating a drink that would get people up, unlike other big drink companies. Instead, like Pepsi, the company is responding to the declining popularity – and rising taxation – of traditional non-alcoholic beverages by expanding its product lines to significantly healthier beverages. Some of these healthier drinks may one day contain cannabidiol or CBD, a substance found in marijuana that does not make you too strong, but that seems to reduce inflammation, nausea and convulsions. According to BNN Bloomberg, products containing CBD are expected to become a $ 2.1 billion industry by 2020.

Following the release of BNN Bloomberg's report, Coca-Cola issued the following statement:

"We are not interested in marijuana or cannabis.With many others in the beverage industry, we are closely watching the growth of non-psychoactive CBD as an ingredient in functional wellness drinks at The space is changing rapidly, and it's been done at this time. "

Maybe not, but Coca-Cola seems to be close to a decision in favor of CBD-infused drinks, sources told BNN Bloomberg. He who has direct knowledge of the talks said the cola maker was "quite advanced on the way" towards an agreement. And the company is interested enough in the sale of CBD-based drinks that also had talks with Aphria, another Canadian marijuana producer about two months ago, insiders told Bloomberg. (Aphria may be too difficult to deal with – the company has also lost to another cannabis company, Hydropothecary Corp., for a non-alcoholic beverage deal with Molson Coors.)

Despite Coke's non-binding statement, the stock markets take the possibility of an agreement very seriously. Aurora shares rose more than 16% at the close of trading on Monday and Coke's share price also increased slightly.

There are certainly good reasons why Coca-Cola would be interested in offering a drink containing CBD and working with a Canadian company to produce it. The country has become the second country – after Uraguay – to legalize recreational marijuana, a law that will come into force next month. Meanwhile, here in the United States, marijuana is in a strange legal vacuum – legal in some states, illegal in others, legal only for some medical uses in others yet. It is still illegal at the federal level, which means that federal law enforcement could sue the shops or users of cannabis at any time, even though up to now, they mostly tolerated the products based of CBD. To complicate matters, CBD can also be derived from hemp, although experts say that this version is less effective and that, in any case, growing hemp is also illegal in the United States, at least for the moment.

In addition, Coca-Cola has boldly entered the market of nutraceuticals good for health. Among other things, he sells coconut water, prized by many as a recovery drink after a workout. A CBD-infused drink with its anti-inflammatory properties would also be useful as a salvage drink, and one of the sources that spoke to BNN Bloomberg said that's exactly what Coke is planning.

Given the growing market for CBD-based products, the shrinking soft drinks market, and the general move towards healthier products, a CBD-infused drink would make a lot of sense for Coca-Cola. It would also be very appropriate, since Coca-Cola's original formula contained a small amount of cocaine. This would also give a whole new meaning to the company's former advertising slogan, "Have a Coke and a Smile".