Seven years ago, a single Bloomberg report sent Aurora Cannabis stock soaring 14% and set the internet ablaze. Coca-Cola never made the drink. But the conversation never really ended, and here’s why.
Picture this: a can of Coke, but make it cannabis. That was the idea, or at least the rumour , that briefly broke the internet in September 2018, when BNN Bloomberg reported that Coca-Cola was in “serious talks” with Aurora Cannabis, one of Canada’s biggest marijuana producers, to develop a line of CBD-infused beverages. Not cannabis to get you high. Cannabis to help you feel better. The target market: people managing inflammation, pain and muscle cramping. The positioning: wellness, not recreation. A can of calm, brought to you by the same people behind polar bears and Christmas.
Coca-Cola’s response, carefully worded, did not deny the talks. Instead, the company said it had “no interest in marijuana or cannabis” while simultaneously noting it was “closely watching the growth of non-psychoactive CBD as an ingredient in functional wellness beverages around the world.” Aurora was equally coy, confirming only that it had “expressed specific interest in the infused-beverage space.”
The market reacted immediately. Aurora’s stock jumped 14% on the Toronto Stock Exchange within hours of the report. A company hadn’t even confirmed a deal, let alone launched a product , yet a single rumour moved markets. That tells you something.
What Actually Happened
Nothing, as it turned out. By December 2019, Coca-Cola’s spokesperson Kent Landers issued a flat denial: “These rumors are untrue. As we have stated many times, we have no plans to enter the CBD market.” Warren Buffett, one of Coke’s most famous shareholders, was equally blunt , calling such a move “a big mistake” given the company’s “wholesome image.”
The reasons were real: CBD remained legally murky at the federal level in the US. The FDA had not approved CBD as a food additive. And the science, as NBC News reported at the time, was thin. Researcher Yasmin Hurd of the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai warned that CBD levels absorbable from a beverage would likely be too low to have any measurable effect , describing the product as, at best, an expensive placebo.
The Market That Grew Without Them
Here’s what makes this story worth revisiting: the market Coca-Cola walked away from didn’t wait. Industry analysts at Grand View Research and BDSA have tracked the global cannabis beverages category growing at nearly 20% annually, with US sales rising consistently year-on-year into 2025. Smaller, nimbler brands moved in and built what Coke hesitated to touch: Recess, CANN Social Tonics and Keef Brands claimed the early ground, while Molson Coors launched CBD lines, Tilray introduced XMG-branded cannabis drinks, and Heineken joined the conversation.
The cultural shift driving all of this has a name: the “sober-curious” movement. Walk into any upscale bar in London, New York or Lagos today and you’ll find a mocktail menu that takes itself seriously , low-ABV, adaptogen-laced, or cannabis-infused options presented with the same care as a craft cocktail. A generation of consumers is actively stepping back from alcohol without wanting to step back from social life. They want the ritual without the regret. Industry data shows cannabis drinks now attract not just young professionals but consumers 45 and older , people who might have quietly asked their doctor about CBD but would never walk into a dispensary.
The Bigger Question
So why does the Coca-Cola cannabis story keep resurfacing on social media every few years, each time with slightly breathless framing , as if the deal is finally about to happen? Partly nostalgia for a moment of corporate daring that never materialised. Partly because the underlying question remains genuinely unresolved: can the world’s most conservative mass-market beverage brand successfully pivot toward cannabis culture?
Coca-Cola’s reluctance was never purely about law or science. It was about brand identity. Entering cannabis was described by one beverage analyst at the time as “a significant step away from adding vitamins.” For a company whose product is sold in virtually every country on earth, and whose brand connotes happiness, family and celebration , the reputational calculus is uniquely complicated. That calculus has shifted since 2018, but it hasn’t been resolved. Federal legalisation in the US remains incomplete. International markets vary wildly. And while CBD’s wellness halo has grown, so has regulatory scrutiny.
The Verdict
If social media whispers about Coca-Cola and cannabis are circulating again, treat them with scepticism , but not dismissal. The company’s 2018 flirtation was real and documented. Their 2019 denial was equally real. What has changed is the market: it is larger, more legitimate, and increasingly mainstream.
Coca-Cola did not miss the CBD wave through ignorance. It made a calculated decision that the reputational and regulatory risk was not worth the reward , and by the strict logic of brand preservation, it was probably right. But markets have a way of humbling caution. The brands that built this category from nothing did so precisely because the giants hesitated. Now those giants are watching a billion-dollar market that might, one day, feel very much like their own.
Whether Coca-Cola ever decides the time is finally right remains to be seen. But if the rumours keep coming back , and they will , perhaps that’s the market’s way of saying it’s still waiting.
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