Here's what you need to know about weed milk, a relaxing vegan drink
It's true — marijuana milk is a thing.
Milk isn't what it used to be. Though milk can certainly refer to the dairy product from a cow — or goat or camel — a whole range of vegan and lactose-free nut milks and other alternative products look and often taste like the original moo juice.
And now, branching out from cashews and almonds, cannabis is becoming the ingredient du jour to make vegan milk from.
Yes, weed milk is happening.
Rawligion, a London-based health food and drink cafe — whose website, by the way, touts phrases like "eat sexy, feel sexy" — is taking vegan milk to a new level. It recently launched a new limited-edition drink called Relax, intended to work as a sleep aid and help reduce stress and anxiety with its proprietary mixture of hemp seeds, cashews and CBD oil, or cannabidiol, which comes from the cannabis plant.
Unlike THC, the chemical in marijuana that causes a person to get high, CBD is nonpsychoactive and often celebrated for its medical benefits. Think of it as medical marijuana without the heady effects of smoking pot. CBD is still classified as a drug in the U.S., thanks to its marijuana-derived origins and what the federal government sees as the potential for abuse. It has, however, been shown to help stop seizures in kids with epilepsy, and research is ongoing about its medical uses, which are legal in some states.
Like drinking warm milk, downing a bottle of Rawligion's Relax is more likely to make you pull the sheets over your head and rest your face on a pillow than enjoy a Phish concert.
Though CBD is rarely seen in food or beverages — it's the THC candy and cookie dispensaries want in their adult products — milk made from hemp is nothing new.
Rawligion founder John Tabatabai told Mic via email that this fresh, nonpasteurized, hemp-based milk — which has about a 48-hour shelf life — was created with the "intention of creating a dairy-free, healthy drink which tastes great and has fantastic health benefits." Though Mic has yet to taste Relax, Tabatabai said the beverage tastes "like a delicious milkshake" and indeed has relaxing effects. He said the response to the CBD-infused product has been "fantastic," which is good news for those looking forward to similar products hitting the market.
In the U.S., hemp milk can be purchased by the carton from Pacific Foods, which makes soy and almond milks. It's also legally available in plenty of mainstream cafes and coffee shops, like New York's Birch Coffee.
Hemp milk has a substantial amount of calcium, vitamins and magnesium. According to Livestrong, you can make it by blending hemp seeds — often found at health-food stores — with water and any desired sweetener, and then straining out the solids. The recipe is simple and offering up homemade hemp milk at your next party can definitely make for a great conversation topic.
And because it doesn't include CBD oil, your homemade hemp milk is definitely not weed milk, so feel free to drink it wherever you like without worry.
