October has been a good month for cannabis stocks with Canada set to introduce legal adult use marijuana next week and investors rallying around excitement for cannabidiol (CBD)-infused beverages ever since major drink makers have demonstrated their interest in the space.
The new week is getting off with more news in the area, including Apotheca Biosciences (OTCPK:PCFP) announcing a new partnership to manufacture drinks infused with marijuana components.
Estimates vary wildly about market size for cannabis-infused drinks and the overall legal marijuana market. Analysts at Wells Fargo are particularly upbeat, predicting the cannabis-infused drinks market will reach $50 billion annually in the U.S. alone, equating to about half of the entire U.S. beer market.
Angling to get a piece of this market, Apotheca has teamed up with CB Scientific to develop next generation "cannabis-based THC- and hemp-based" infused energy and chill drinks. That's a broad stroke for drink ingredients, covering both psychotropic and non-psychotropic components of marijuana and its cousin hemp. CBD, which can be collected from hemp and cannabis, does not produce the "high" associated with marijuana; that is caused by THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) found in cannabis.
The plan is to market the products under the brands "Magic Dragon High" and "DAVA," with the first products to be hemp-based CBD-infused drinks to be sold through all available channels, potentially even eBay and Amazon.com. Apotheca has set an ambitious goal of producing (they didn't say "selling") a minimum of 500,000 bottles of hemp CBD infused beverages by the end of 2018.
Market participants haven't responded to the company tossing around market stats, lofty goals and every buzz word possible in their press release on the partnership. Shares of PCFP are flat at 54 cents in early Monday trading.
