It’s easy to miss the cannabis beverages that line the refrigerated sections of grocery stores, bodegas, and delis throughout New York City. The rainbow-like array of cans — bearing names such as Oasis, Cann, Milonga, Cycling Frog, Tempter’s, Gigli, and Mighty Kind — often look indistinguishable from iced tea, probiotic sodas, and other wellness-coded “functional beverages” that share their shelf space.
In font sizes that range from prominent to squint-worthy, the cans’ labels note that they contain THC, the psychoactive compound found in cannabis. But most of the 10 stores visited on a recent scouting trip through South Brooklyn, some within a couple blocks of schools, displayed no signs indicating that these were intoxicating beverages, nor did they ask for identification when the drinks were brought to the register.
