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AriZona Iced Tea is getting into the weed business. The company behind the famous $1 cans you know and love announced a partnership with Dixie Brands, a Denver-based cannabis company, to create cannabis-infused products like gummies and vape pens. Unlike the flurry of CBD-infused drinks we’ve seen of late, the products will contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
Per the licensing deal, Dixie will manufacture the AriZona-branded products and sell them at licensed dispensaries. The line will initially be sold in five states—California, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, and Nevada—with expansion in the U.S. and possibly Canada, Latin America, and Mexico as regulation allows, AriZona says. The timing has yet to be finalized, though AriZona hopes to get the products in stores as soon as possible.
While the collection will start with vape pens and gummies, it could expand to include drinks like lemonade, tea, soda, coffee, or seltzer, the Wall Street Journal reports.
In a press release, Dixie Brand CEO Chuck Smith said this:
AriZona is a power brand and the most iconic and recognized CPG brand to extend into the cannabis market, providing the evolving cannabis consumer with a fun and flavorful experience alongside an iconic brand they know and love. … This partnership marks a watershed moment for the popularization and expansion of the cannabis sector overall, and is another large step forward for Dixie Brands’ strategy to build a house of famous cannabis CPG brands.
AriZona is one of the first mass-market consumer goods brands to enter the space. Last year, Heineken launched a THC-infused sparkling water under its Lagunitas brand. Currently, it is only sold in California dispensaries. In December, Anheuser-Busch InBev, the brewer behind Budweiser and Bud Light, announced an investment in a Canadian cannabis company to research non-alcohol beverages containing THC and CBD.