Bud in a Bottle: New Marijuana Soda to Launch in Feb.

healthland.time.com
By Samantha Rollins Tuesday, January 25, 2011

How about a refreshing Canna Cola? A company based in Soquel, Calif., has created a new line of soda pot — or, marijuana soda — that it plans to launch in Colorado in February.

Canna Cola isn't the first marijuana soda on the market, but its designer Clay Butler, who said he has never used marijuana or smoked a cigarette but is a "firm believer that adults have an inalienable right to think, eat, smoke, drink, ingest, decorate, dress any way they choose," told the Santa Cruz Sentinel that his beverage collection will be distinguished by marketing. "You look at all the marijuana products out there, and they are so mom-and-pop, hippie-dippy and rinky-dink," he said.

According to the Sentinel, Butler's soda pot line will include the "flagship cola drink Canna Cola, the Dr Pepper–like Doc Weed, the lemon-lime Sour Diesel, the grape-flavored Grape Ape and the orange-flavored Orange Kush."

The labels promise "12 mind blowing ounces," and each bottle will retail for roughly $10 to $15. Containing 35 to 65 milligrams of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, Canna Cola is substantially less potent than many of the other drinks currently on the market, the Sentinel reports.

Scott Riddell, founder of Diavolo Brands, which is marketing Canna Cola, likened it to a "light beer" and said "it's got a mild marijuana taste," compared with heavier tasting competitors with three times the THC.

Canna Cola's makers plan to sell it to medical-marijuana dispensaries in Colorado starting next month, and hope to launch it in California by the spring. Looming, however, is a bill in Congress sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the so-called "Brownie Law," which passed the Senate last year. It would increase penalties for makers of products that combine marijuana with "a candy product" or anyone who markets such products to minors.

There are currently 15 states, as well as the District of Columbia, where medical marijuana is legal. However, the conditions of its legality differ from state to state, and marijuana for any purpose is still illegal under federal law.