Joint venture: Coca-Cola considers cannabis-infused range

Coca-Cola Soft drink maker in talks with Canadian marijuana producer about beverages to ease pain Rebecca Smithers https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/sep/17/joint-venture-drinks-giant-coca-cola-mulls-cannabis-infused-range Coca-Cola is focused on properties of cannabis that treat pain without getting users high. Photograph: Richard Levine/Corbis via Getty Images Coca-Cola is considering developing a range of marijuana-infused beverages to help ease physical problems such as inflammation, pain and cramps. The world’s largest drinks company is in talks with major Canadian marijuana producer Aurora Cannabis, but stressed that it was interested in the properties of cannabis that treat pain but do not get users high. The talks come as Canada prepares to legalise cannabis for recreational use, after many years of permitting it for medicinal purposes. Coca-Cola said it was monitoring the industry and was interested in developing new drinks infused with CBD or cannabidiol, the non-psychoactive ingredient found in cannabis plants which alleviates pain. It said: “Along with many others in the beverage industry, we are closely watching the growth of non-psychoactive CBD as an ingredient in functional wellness beverages around the world. The space is evolving quickly.” Many cannabis advocates argue that it is is capable of relieving conditions including arthritis and diabetes. The legal low-concentrate CBD oil is said to be beneficial for promoting sleep, boosting appetite and reducing stress, depression and anxiety. In Los Angeles, CBD is among the latest wellness fads. It is being added to cocktails and an upmarket juice bar will add a few drops of CBD-infused olive oil to a beverage for $3.50 (£2.66). Coca-Cola insisted “no decisions have been made at this time” and said it would not comment on further speculation. It did not confirm or deny the link with Aurora Cannabis, which was first reported by Canadian broadcaster BNN Bloomberg. However, its interest in the marijuana sector comes as the fizzy soft drinks that made its name are in decline. Last month, Coca-Cola announced that it was buying the Costa Coffee chain in a near-£4bn deal that underlined the growing appeal of the global coffee market. Canada is an obvious major market for a new wave of commercially produced drinks, given that recreational cannabis use is set to be legalised on 17 October. At the beginning of August, it was announced that Canadian brewer Molson Coors had struck a deal with The Hydropothecary Corporation, a Canadian cannabis producer, to launch a new standalone business which aims to develop “non-alcoholic, cannabis-infused beverages for the Canadian market following legalisation”. Diageo, the maker of Guinness beer, is holding discussions with at least three Canadian cannabis producers about a possible deal, according to BNN Bloomberg. Heineken NV’s Lagunitas craft-brewing label has even launched a brand specialising in non-alcoholic drinks infused with THC, marijuana’s active ingredient. However Coca-Cola is the first major non-alcoholic drinks manufacturer to consider such a move. It is not clear whether Coca-Cola’s plans will eventually extend to the UK, but the revelation was a surprise to UK-based executives. Some forms of cannabis oil are already available to buy for medical purposes in British pharmacies. The legal low-concentrate CBD oil is said to be beneficial for treating a number of complaints as well as promoting sleep, boosting appetite and reducing stress, depression and anxiety. A recent research study from scientists at King’s College, London, found that a single dose of cannabidiol may help people with psychotic disorders by dampening down abnormal brain activity. A single dose reduced unusual patterns of neural behaviour linked to hallucinations, delusions and other symptoms of psychosis, researchers found after examining brain scans. Medical research Brain scans show how cannabis extract may help people with psychosis Cannabidiol reduces the brain activity linked to hallucinations, delusions and other forms of psychosis, research has found Ian Sample Science editor @iansample Wed 29 Aug 2018 16.07 BST Last modified on Wed 29 Aug 2018 19.40 BST https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/aug/29/brain-scans-show-how-cannabis-extract-may-help-people-with-psychosis Cannabis plants contains compounds which can both help and hinder mental health. In the plants the amount of beneficial cannabidiol or CBD is often overshadowed by other psychoactive compounds. Cannabis plants contains compounds which can both help and hinder mental health. In the plants the amount of beneficial cannabidiol or CBD is often overshadowed by other psychoactive compounds. Photograph: Joe Amon/Getty Images Brain scans have revealed for the first time how a substance found in cannabis plants may help people with psychotic disorders by dampening down abnormal brain activity that arises in the patients. A single dose of cannabidiol, an non-intoxicating extract of the plant, reduced unusual patterns of neural behaviour linked to hallucinations, delusions, and other symptoms of psychosis, researchers found. The impact of the substance has raised hopes that medical preparations of pure cannabidiol, or new drugs based on the compound, may be turned into effective treatments for young people who develop psychosis but do not respond to existing therapies. The most common treatments for psychosis today work on a brain chemical called dopamine, but no new drugs have been developed for the condition since they were discovered in the 1950s. “These results will clearly pave the way for developing a novel class of antipsychotic treatments,” said Sagnik Bhattacharyya, who led the research at King’s College London Cannabis plants produce more than 100 active compounds known as cannabinoids. The most potent, and the substance responsible for the cannabis “high”, is THC or tetrahydrocannabinol. In the past two decades, cannabis with high levels of THC – about 15% – has come to dominate the market in the UK and elsewhere. While high strength cannabis is suspected of raising the risk of mental health problems in some frequent cannabis users, cannabidiol or CBD appears to have opposite, antipsychotic properties. In illicit cannabis, there is too little CBD to have much beneficial effect, but researchers have long wondered whether doses of pure CBD may help to protect against psychosis. “We knew from previous studies that CBD had antipsychotic effects, but we didn’t know how it worked,” said Bhattacharyya. To find out, the researchers recruited 33 people who had all sought help for mild or occasional psychotic symptoms, such as hearing voices or having paranoid delusions. A single dose of cannabidiol was given to 16 of them, while the remaining 17 received an identical-looking placebo. A neuroscientist explains: the need for ‘empathetic citizens’ - podcast The scientists then watched how the volunteers’ brains behaved as they performed simple tasks in a magnetic resonance imaging machine. While in the brain scanner, the participants were asked to say whether pairs of words, such as ‘baby’ and ‘cries’ were related or not, and later, to recall the word that completed a pair when prompted by the scientists. When the researchers compared scans from the different patient groups, and with scans from age and sex-matched healthy people, they found that the patients with psychotic symptoms had abnormal patterns of activity in three distinct brain regions, all of which are involved in psychosis. But in patients who had a single dose of CBD, the unusual brain activity appeared to be dampened down, making their scans more similar to those of health individuals. Details of the work are published in JAMA Psychiatry. “This was just a single dose of CBD and that is not going to treat or cure psychosis,” said Bhattacharyya. “But this shows us that CBD at least has an effect on abnormal brain activity that is consistent with it being an antipsychotic.” The King’s College researchers are now launching the first large scale trial to investigate whether pure, medical grade CBD is an effective treatment for young people who are at high risk of developing psychosis. The trial, which is expected to start recruiting early next year, is backed by the Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research. “If the trial shows it has efficacy, then the next step will be to get through the regulatory hurdles os using CBD in the clinic to treat patients,” said Bhattacharyya. “One shouldn’t get the impression that it’s OK to start prescribing CBD tomorro