Another cannabis company has forged a connection with B.C.'s public postsecondary sector.

Pacific Rim Brands is working with researchers at UBC Okanagan and the B.C. Institute of Technology to investigate development of cannabis-infused beverages.

“We are at the early stages of this research and are very excited about the potential for both interesting science and new products for consumers,” UBC Okanagan chemistry professor Susan Murch said in a university news release.

She's an expert on the impact of plant chemistry on human health.

Murch pointed out that it requires innovation to develop products that can sit on a store shelf for a long time.

Another researcher, Paula Brown, is a Canada Research Chair at BCIT, where she's the director of the natural health and food products research group. 

“Like any new sector, the science and formulation will be the most important element to ensure consistency, scalability and trust,” Brown said in the news release. “There is a lot of work to be done to develop stable, high-quality, consistent cannabis formulations that consumers can use with confidence.”

Under the Cannabis Act, it's legal to make cannabis food and drinks at home as long as organic solvents are not used to create concentrated products.

The government has prommised to regulate the sale of cannabis edibles, including drinks, no later than October 17, 2019.

Cannabis-infused drinks are already legal in some U.S. states.

News of the partnership between Pacific Rim Brands and the two academic institutions came three days after UBC announced that M-J Milloy has been named UBC's first Canopy Growth professor of cannabis science.

Milloy is an epidemiologist with the B.C. Centre on Substance Use.