Grassroots Marketing discusses The Maine Cannabis Market Mire with Eben Sumner from The Maine Growers Alliance & Casco Bay Hemp
Eben Sumner is Founder and CEO of two businesses in the cannabis space, Casco Bay Hemp and 1780, a Maine Licensed Medical Cannabis Provider. Co-Founder and legislative chair of the Maine Growers Alliance, and shaper participant in Seed2Health; a think tank focused on forwarding cannabis as medicine.
In Maine, Eben founded a caregiver company, named 1780, cultivating medical cannabis. Unfortunately, the complexities of federal law around cannabis made it impossible for this business to expand outside of Maine. However, Sumner quickly found that he could extend his reach through CBD and hemp products. Today, Sumner provides a variety of CBD products through Casco Bay Hemp. The products are all derived from USA-grown hemp, and all the manufacturing is handled right in Maine. The restrictions surrounding medical cannabis don’t apply to hemp, allowing Sumner to provide Casco Bay Hemp products all across the country and legal markets around the world.
Eben is one of the founders of the The Maine Growers Alliance, an organization that was formed to ensure the security of the small to medium sized craft cannabis cultivators in order to bring patients and consumers the highest quality, most affordable products. The organization raises funds to donate to community charities, and help it’s representatives work with lobbying groups to protect their interests in ME.
While Eben enjoys being able to provide his products to customers, his sights are set on helping change the narrative around cannabis. He is working towards integrating cannabis into the healthcare system while strengthening the caregiver industry in his home state of Maine. This path has led him to become a shaper participant with Seed2Health, a think tank and accelerator focused on bringing botanical health efficacy to a medical standard through an open source “Learning Health ” system. Seed2Health recognizes the struggle that the FDA and medical institutions have with botanicals, especially cannabis, when it comes to clinical research trials. “We are working to bridge that gap, to be able to show the efficacy of plant medicine with the engagement of the supply chain all the way through to the consumer. With this information we can provide a powerful repository accessible to researchers and individuals alike.” said Sumner.
