The total potential demand for cannabis in the United States, including the black market, is calculated at $55 billion according to Forbes. Let’s put this in perspective: beer is a $111 billion market, cigarettes $80 billion and video games $36. Cannabis is a big deal, and cannabis derived and infused products are bound to be an incredibly important part of it.

According to historians and botanists, cannabis has been used around the world for almost 6,000 years. There are records in China (6,000 years ago), India (4,000 to 3,000 years ago), Ancient Iran (3,000 years ago), Ancient Greece (2,500 years ago) and the Americas (200 years ago).

In the 20th century cannabis fell notoriously into a category where not only was it disfavored but it made it nearly impossible to study, at least in the US. Israel was one of the countries that led the research on the medical potential of the plant, and on 1964 Professor Raphael Mechoulam of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem isolated the psychoactive compound of cannabis, THC.

Cannabis is so interesting, and lucrative, amongst other things because it is complex and made up of at least 750 compounds. Amongst them, THC and CBD are the most famous. Only a handful of the compounds have been studied.

CBD and THC have been known to serve as ailment for quite a few conditions and diseases. Amongst them nausea, inflammation, chronic pain, anxiety, seizures, cancer, PTSD and multiple sclerosis, amongst others.

During the past decades, cannabis has been usually smoked. With the change in regulations across the world and the increase in studies and associated technologies of extraction and infusion new products are being developed, many of them in the United States. Amongst the preferred products are topicals like creams and balms, oils and tinctures and edibles in the form of cookies, brownies, gummies, mints and others. Beverages are the new frontier.

What makes beverages so interesting is that it brings us to the realm of recreational, wellness and nutritional drinks. The potential that CBD, THC, hemp oil, terpenes and other compounds hold in regards of wellness and nutrition are unique and only just beginning to be understood. But there are a few things that we understand already, in particular with CBD.

CBD is helping a lot of people world wide with their quality of life. And nothing better than enjoy a quality ingredient while enjoying a beverage that is healthy, tasty and fun to drink.

Subscribe to our newsletter for more information regarding the next age of wellness beverages. 

Sources:

Visual Capitalist: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/story-of-cannabis-investors/

Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomaspellechia/2018/03/01/double-digit-billions-puts-north-america-in-the-worldwide-cannabis-market-lead/#111a27a66510