With tens of thousands of new brands, the CBD products craze is bringing in entrepreneurs of varying persuasions. Here are some things to think about if you’re looking to get into the business.
Companies like Casco Bay Hemp has been at the forefront of private labeling CBD products for some time and receive inquiries from businesses of varying sizes wanting to offer their own CBD product line. The aggregated daily global inquiries the private label CBD industry experiences is staggering. Due to its therapeutic benefits and the rise of the cannabis markets, many business owners have sought to capitalize on an industry on an extreme upswing. The current widespread proliferation of CBD-based products has further highlighted the rapid expansion of the industry with more retailers and medical institutes continuing to sell CBD products. The industry is well positioned to become an explosive marketplace, with Brightfield Group’s research projecting the U.S. hemp CBD market to reach USD 22 Billion by 2022. CBD products are required to have virtually no trace ofTHC (.3% or less), meaning consumers experience no psychoactive effects often associated with cannabis. Because of this, many folks are trying to capitalize on the public’s lack of knowledge on what they are buying. New businesses see opportunity hemp based products offer, especially in states where cannabis is not yet legal medically or recreationally, because of the relation to traditional cannabis products. Not to mention some studies suggest that only 5-10% of the population know what CBD is and its functionality, leaving a huge potential future market share. Publicly traded companies are being announced more often in both the Hemp and Cananbis industries. Pressure BioSciences, Inc. (OTC: PBIO), Green Thumb Industries Inc. (OTC: GTBIF) (CSE: GTII), Acreage Holdings Inc. (OTC: ACRGF) (CSE: ACRG.U), Neptune Wellness Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: NEPT) (TSX: NEPT), MariMed Inc. (OTC: MRMD)
Headlines are everywhere exclaiming “Cannabidiol (CBD) oil has become the hot new product”. In truth it’s not just a product, Cannabidiol is part of our makeup. We all have an endocannabinoid system (scientifically discovered in 1992) that plays a crucial role in regulating our physiology, mood, and everyday experience. The discovery of receptors in our brains that respond pharmacologically to cannabis & hemp—and the subsequent identification of endogenous (self-made) cannabinoid compounds in our own bodies that bind to these receptors—has significantly advanced our understanding of human biology, health, and disease. The endocannabinoid system is full of possibilities from a health and vitality perspective. There are hundreds of individual cannabinoids in hemp and cannabis, most prevalent being CBD and THC. It is an established scientific fact that cannabinoids (CBD, THC, CBN, CBG) and other components of cannabis (terpenes, flavinoids, fats, lipids) can modulate many physiological systems in the brain and body. Because of its ability to maintain homeostasis within the body, our endocannabinoid system is perhaps the most important physiologic system involved in establishing and maintaining human health, yet no one knows about it.
One barrier of success for new businesses today is marketing, You can’t do much paid search (SEM) on Google, Yahoo or Bing. Just about all online presence needs to be with SEO (organic search engine rankings) or social media platforms, Instagram being the most popular. CBD product e commerce websites are shut down all of the time. Either the platform they are built on will not allow CBD products, or the merchant process won’t allow financial transactions. As of today, companies all over the world with current digital infrastructure are scrambling to find new merchants. New businesses relying on SEO need to work with a talented firm or contractor, which can be very expensive for a start-up. SEO is about a properly built/structured website that continuously pumps out relevant content (there’s more to it, but no time here to explain). It’s certainly not rocket science, but it is time consuming. It’s extremely hard to stay up on CBD/Hemp laws, product innovation, education, customer service, sales and manage a digital marketing campaign.
Banking is extremely difficult for CBD and hemp right now. It’s hard to find, but local credit unions that tailor to medical cannabis caregivers and allow for hemp and CBD products seem to be the only options for everyday traditional banking. The large majority of entrepreneurs across the country do not have this luxury or they simply aren’t used to it. There are private banks domestically that anyone in any State can use, you just need to find them. The fees are very high and there are many limitations on what you can do. Wire transfers are prohibited in most banks that allow CBD products. PayPal will shut you down if they think you’re selling CBD products. Websites blatantly using PayPal as a payment gateway will eventually be shut down.
CBD has been integrated into our pharmaceutical market causing concern for smaller companies. A popular consensus is the larger pharmaceutical firms will eventually make it extremely difficult for smaller farmers, entrepreneurs and CBD product developers to compete. There seems to be 2 emerging sub industries of CBD, pharmacological and holistic. Last year, the U.S Food and Drug Administration approved an isolate based treatment, Epidiolex, to treat childhood epilepsy. CBD isolate is a powdered form of pure 99%+ cannabidiol. It does not offer the “entourage effect” of treatment, which is other ancillary cannabinoids (CBG, CBN, CBC) and plant compounds, the fats, proteins, lipids, terpnes, flavinoids working together to feed the endocannabinoid system. Many people argue that this full spectrum entourage effect offers a superior level of effectiveness. Along with the approval of Epidiolex, the FDA had approved several other synthetic cannabis drugs like Marinol. CBD has shown effectiveness in treating other medical conditions such as chronic pain, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, anxiety, and depression. “Hemp and marijuana CBD users’ surveys rated their treatments as equally effective. 40% of hemp-derived CBD users with a medical condition find their cannabis products to be extremely effective at relieving their symptoms—compared to 37% of marijuana-derived CBD-only users and 41% of whole plant CBD users,” said Kayla Hunter, former Market Analysts at Brightfield Group.
About Casco Bay Hemp:
Please Note: Casco Bay Hemp is not a financial advisory or advisor, investment advisor or broker-dealer and do not undertake any activities that would require such registration. We are not lawyers and don’t try and provide legal advice.
Dozens of collective years in the medical cannabis industry affords us vast knowledge of how cannabinoids react in your body. We’ve been cultivating, formulating and administrating CBD longer than most of our “competitors”. Thus, allowing us to take a therapeutic approach in every CBD product we offer. Being involved in the medical cannabis community has given us the privilege of supporting people with ailments from cancer, chronic pain, sleep deprivation to epilepsy. We believe in medicinal CBD products, we’ve witnessed CBD work first- hand countless times. Our reputation and testimonials speak for themselves. Integrity, transparency and experience are the foundation of Casco Bay Hemp.
All of our hemp products fall below the .3% federal limit for Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Rigorous 3rd party testing is executed throughout the cultivation and formulation process. All hemp crops used in our products are held to organic standards from seed to extraction. Our team of farmers, hemp extraction facilities and product innovators define our CBD products. Our product line contains the purest CBD rich full spectrum crude, distillate and isolate. You will enjoy our line and be proud of the purchase knowing you’re helping yourself achieve optimal health while supporting a small U.S. based company.
Testing: All Casco Bay Hemp’s line of products are third party lab tested by an ISO certified lab for consistency and safety. We test our batches of hemp oil and upload results to our website for full transparency. Not only do we test cannabinoid and terpene profiles, but also mold, pesticides, heavy metals, microbials, herbicides and residual solvents.
