Britain Sells Cannabis Ice Tea

24dash.com
Press Association
06/25/06

An ice tea containing cannabis extract is hitting stores in the UK.

C-Ice Swiss Cannabis Ice Tea is being marketed for its health benefits.

All narcotic elements of the plant have been removed to make the drink legal.

But David Raynes, policy adviser at the National Drug Prevention Alliance UK, warned: "This is a normalisation of cannabis as an image in young people's minds. So many people come off the rails because of cannabis, particularly young boys and early teens."

The chilled black tea is described as having "added hemp blossom syrup with an extract of hemp bloom".

It comes in individual cardboard orange "cans" decorated with cannabis leaves and the slogan "fantastic natural feeling".

Produced by an Austrian company and using hemp grown in Switzerland, the product is already available on the Continent and in South Africa.

The £1.29 ready-to-drink cans are being distributed via health food shops.