Mary Jane's Relaxing Soda alludes to marijuana with its branding, but the "active" ingredient is a medicinal root.

A new beverage called Mary Jane's Relaxing Soda -- billed by some as "weed in a can" -- is selling briskly in Los Angeles, yet another sign of pot culture going mainstream in America's largest state. The beverage, part of a emerging category of so-called "anti-energy drinks," doesn't actually contain cannabis, but promises similar effects of calm and relaxation from its "active" ingredient, a medicinal root from the South Pacific called kava. The FDA doesn't consider kava a drug, but "if there were not therapeutic effects, it would not be a 1,000-year-old folk medicine," says Boston University pharmaceuticals chemist Michael Pollastri. By making pot-like effects available from convenience store coolers, is Mary Jane's Relaxing Soda part of trend toward marijuana becoming a more acceptable part of everyday life in the U.S.?

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