When Omari Anderson was growing up in Florida, his house tended to be the spot at which friends wanted to play basketball — they knew that once it was time to head inside for a cold drink, Anderson’s mother would have some form of delicious, homemade juice or iced tea ready.
Years later, it was some of the same family recipes — now mixed with cannabis extract — that would help Anderson’s mother through Alzheimer’s disease by returning her appetite and regular sleep.
“I wasn’t looking for a miracle drug or looking for anything to reverse the effects of Alzheimer’s. I was more so looking for palliative care,” Anderson said. And the lemonade helped make Jacqueline Rickerby-Anderson’s last years “as pleasant and easy on her as possible.”
Two years after Jacqueline died in the fall of 2019, age 59, a few of Anderson’s friends sampled his spiked lemonade and thought it was good enough to sell.
Inspired by what he had been able to do for his mother, Anderson spent the next two years developing the product. On Friday, he will bring the juice to the Massachusetts cannabis market under the brand “Best Dirty Lemonade.”
Omari Anderson, of Atlanta, infused homemade lemonade with cannabis to help his mom keep her appetite and get sleep when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. After she died, he developed the lemonade into a new cannabis beverage — available at dispensaries as Best Dirty Lemonade. (Photo courtesy of NETA).
Jacqueline’s diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease at age 54 was shocking, her son said.
“Our journey really started from a place of love and desire to help my mother,” Anderson said. “She wasn’t really sleeping or eating. And as a casual cannabis user at the time, I knew how cannabis made me feel.”
Despite her son’s suggestions, Jacqueline was not willing to smoke cannabis. She developed expressive aphasia as the Alzheimer’s progressed, but even through difficulty speaking, had made her opposition to smoking clear.
Born in London to Jamaican parents, Jacqueline had long concocted homemade juices — lemonades, fresh fruit punches, and “an amazing ginger beer,” Anderson said. “And we can’t forget about the sweet tea.”
If his mother didn’t want to smoke, perhaps a familiar drink mixed with cannabis could help her eat and rest.
Jacqueline Rickerby-Anderson, mother of Omari Anderson, the founder of Best Dirty Lemonade. (Courtesy of Omari Anderson).
Anderson developed a homemade cannabis sugar, used it to make his mother’s lemonade and offered her some. Cannabis doesn’t reverse the effects of Alzheimer’s or aphasia — but she started sleeping better, and she was eating, Anderson said.
His mother’s more-regular sleep schedule also provided some relief to Anderson’s grandmother, then Jacqueline’s primary caregiver, who despite her misgivings about cannabis use, had given the plan a shot.
“This is the story of our lemonade,” Anderson said. “I really just tried to develop something to aid my mother.”
Claire Rickerby (left) and Jacqueline Rickerby-Anderson, the grandmother and mother of Omari Anderson. Anderson founded Best Dirty Lemonade, a cannabis-infused beverage based on the drink he made for his mother to help her eat and sleep as she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. (Courtesy of Omari Anderson).
Best Dirty Lemonade, now available
Partnering with Massachusetts cannabis company New England Treatment Access, or NETA, Anderson’s Best Dirty Lemonade goes on sale Friday, June 30. In time, he hopes to roll out other “Best Dirty” beverages, including strawberry and blue raspberry juices.
It’s a slightly different recipe than the lemonade he whipped up for his mother — better suited to be bottled and sold commercially.
The taste is not “overly weed-y,” Anderson said. “It’s sweet and refreshing and it doesn’t leave a heavy syrupy taste on your tongue or that coating in your mouth.”
The non-carbonated drinks will be available at recreational dispensaries as 12-ounce bottles with 5 mg of THC (the primary active compound in cannabis) and as a medical product in a stronger 25 mg dose. For those who prefer a smaller serving size, the drinks come in a resealable bottle.
The products will not only be available at NETA’s three dispensaries in Brookline, Northampton and Franklin, but also at select dispensaries across the state — including The Heritage Club dispensary in Boston, The Boston Garden dispensary in Athol, Mello in Haverhill and Northeast Alternatives in Fall River. They can also be found through Rolling Releaf, a Greater Boston cannabis delivery service.
‘We’re not just in this for business’
Anderson didn’t wait to fully enter the cannabis market before he started making his mark on it. Before putting his lemonade on the shelves, he and NETA decided to sponsor Let’s Talk Weed, a community discussion forum for educating the public about cannabis and its industry.
He met the organization’s founder and CEO, Derrell Black, last year through Black CannaBusiness, a program to help Black cannabis business owners develop their products.
Anderson said the organization’s educational mission is key to making the industry more accessible.
“For so long, cannabis has been this dark cloud over the Black community and once it became legal it was as if Black and brown people were excluded from cannabis,” Anderson said. “[Derrell Black’s] main mission is to make sure we have knowledge about the industry.”
In July, the organization will host a panel discussion on cannabis consumption lounges, which are not yet permitted in Massachusetts.
“If you live in subsidized housing or public housing, although cannabis is legal in Massachusetts you still can’t have cannabis delivered to your place,” Anderson said. “You can get in trouble if you’re caught using cannabis in your place. This is why social consumption lounges are so important, especially for medical patients.”
Entering the cannabis industry in Massachusetts, Anderson wants to be an advocate for other social equity business owners — those from communities historically most affected by the War on Drugs. As one of the few Black cannabis beverage owners in the state, he chose to soft launch Best Dirty Lemonade last month, on Juneteenth.
“We’re not just in this for business,” he said.
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