CHALLENGES

■ Alcohol is water-soluble, and cannabis is not, meaning alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream quickly, whereas pot edibles and beverages are metabolized much later in the digestive process. This leads to the classic edible effect, when inexperienced users consume a weed bonbon, feel nothing, have a second, and then find an hour later that they’re far higher than they wanted to be.

■ The problem of onset time (and the related problem of how long the effect takes to wear off) is one of the biggest challenges facing makers of cannabis beverages and may be one of the reasons the products currently make up a tiny portion of the overall legal pot market: less than 0.5 percent of total U.S. sales, according to BDS Analytics.