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Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1159085
SEPTEMBER 2019 BCBUSINESS 39 as market entrants prove their viability, we'll see more and more. You can add cannabis to a wide variety of beverages to make them more interest- ing. I've seen pitches on non-alcoholic beer, kom- bucha, tea—a whole host of products." Of cou rse, t here's no way to get exact numbers at this point, but everyone and their uncle have taken aim at guessing how lucrative cannabis drinks could be. Arcview Market Research, a California firm that collects data on the cannabis industry, esti- mates that the edibles market in the U.S. and Canada could top US$4.1 billion by 2022. And on a February conference call with analysts, Molson Coors Brewing Co. president and CEO Mark Hunter predicted that the Canadian cannabis drinks market would eventually be worth—at the very least—$1.5 billion. Blowing smoke? Some are more skeptical about what the market might bear, though. Paul Meehan is the owner of Goodridge & Williams Distilling, which produces spirits and mixed drinks like the popu- lar Nütrl Vodka Soda out of its Delta facil- ity. He's also the largest shareholder of a beverage called Centr, for which he does brand work and whose CEO is his brother Joe. But Centr, which hit the U.S. in June, uses hemp, not cannabis—instead of providing users with the psychoactive effects of THC, it's heavy on cannabidiol (CBD), a natural remedy for things like chronic pain and anxiety. "I don't think it'll be as gear-changing as people expect," Meehan says of the cannabis beverage market. "The compa- nies that are going to do well are going to make products that are needed. If you look at the success of Nütrl Vodka Soda, that was based around the simple insight that beer is heavy. There was a need for something that didn't fill you up and was low-calorie, no-carb." Meehan, who oversees about 60 employees between Goodridge & Williams and a Vancouver-based mar- keting firm he owns, doesn't think that same market need is there for cannabis drinks. "My philosophy is that when people drink THC, it'll be high-quality microdosing—the 50-millilitre shots or additives—versus lifestyle brands that don't look like lifestyle brands. Whereas I'm a fan of what CBD does: it actually literally gives you that little bit of calm. We want people to think, as Red Bull is to wind up, Centr is to wind down." Setting up shop But even if some liquor industry players aren't sure how cannabis drinks will infiltrate the market, it's probably not worth sitting on the sidelines to find out, especially in this province. The United Nations' World Drug Report 2019 found that nearly 23.5 percent of B.C. residents 15 and older reported using the drug in 2017. That number was 15 percent in Alberta, 14 percent in Ontario and 11 percent in Quebec (the lowest in the country). The closest runner-up was Nova Scotia, where almost 19 percent of residents 15 and up reported having consumed cannabis that year. 5.3 million CANADIANS WHO REPORTED USING CANNABIS IN THE FIRST THREE MONTHS OF 2019 646,000 NUMBER WHO TRIED IT FOR THE FIRST TIME DURING THOSE MONTHS 2/1 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MALE (22% OF THOSE SURVEYED) AND FEMALE (13%) USE OF CANNABIS DURING THOSE MONTHS C hanging Habit s DRINK IT IN: Paul Meehan (top) of Goodridge & Williams Distilling isn't sure there will be a market for cannabis bever- ages, while Kiaro's Andrew Gordon (left) disagrees