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Local Business Owner Shares Hemp Industry Insight and Impact of SB 494

I agreed to be interviewed and participate in an article concerning the newly passed SB 494 law (“Medical Marijuana Dispensary Opens in Athens as New Law Threatens Hemp Products,” Oct. 2) and how it applies to my industry. While I appreciate being quoted and the time I was given to voice my opinions, I feel that some things need to be corrected and the record set straight from my industry’s and customer’s point of view.

I am part of several state and national organizations that exist to protect the original intent of the 2018 Farm Bill and the provisions it laid out concerning the legality of cannabis and what defines it as federally legal. The Georgia Alliance, Save Florida Hemp and American Healthy Alternatives are just a few of the groups that I actively participate in. I have testified during the legislative process multiple times and understand the process better than most. The public has been blind to the fact that cannabis has been legal since 2018. There are NO loopholes being exploited. The law was very clear and its definitions are quite precise. I have read the original bill sponsor’s comments and what their true intent was. They created a definition to legalize cannabis on a federal level by defining it as Hemp. The formula is quite easy to understand. Most people are misinformed and have been for so long that they believe there is a hemp plant and a marijuana plant. The fact is there isn’t. There is one plant, and it becomes legal if it’s precisely harvested and processed. All the resulting compounds are natural, LEGAL and provide efficacy.

The difference in our two industries is far more complex and truly is a David vs. Goliath battle. Our industry is federally legal and uses the entire plant and all of its compounds. All THC compounds, all minor and major cannabinoids, all biomass. We use them all and we know them all because we have worked with them all diligently for decades. The Crawford Brothers are legends and have done the entire cannabis industry a favor by exploring the entire plant and how it converts its molecules. The vast majority of our industry is small business owners. Even the largest growers, distributors and manufacturers are family owned and operated. We all know each other. At the retail level, more than 95% are small businesses and family owned. And quite a few are veteran owned and operated. I am no exception. Six years in business and counting.

The marijuana side of the industry is federally illegal and mostly operated by massive monopolies that care about one molecule in the plant, Delta 9 THC, and try to limit that to three or four delivery systems. For our part, we are the ones that created the nano-emulsification process by which legal hemp based Delta 9 THC could be added to drinks. There is a reason why this part of the industry is exploding. We are the ones that saw the need to help people have a safe alternative to going home or out and consuming alcohol. We innovated bypassing full metabolization in the liver so that a drink could be felt as it is consumed versus all at once. Our industry and manufacturers innovate to meet the needs of our consumers. Every innovation in delivery systems and molecular structure comes from our industry. We are the ones that self regulated and had certificates of analysis, not chemical analysis, for all of our products before it was ever mandated. How can I attest to this fact? Because I ran the marketing for a Colorado Laboratory that did just that before the 2018 Farm Bill was even signed into law. Our good actors are the best in the cannabis industry, period. To characterize us as “head shops” or worse is wrong and flat out inaccurate. I took great offense to the terminology. We are not that.

I can safely speak for our industry and say that we all want responsible and reasonable legislation so that bad actors lose their incentive to profit from an industry that truly wants to help people lose their dependency on alcohol and pharmaceuticals. And for someone who was touched by two suicides this year that were the direct result of alcohol, I am angry that any lawmaker would propose a limit on a drink that helps people quit drinking alcohol. I challenge any of them to speak to me face to face and explain that point of view. Why should any adult be told how much they can have and in what form they may have it? I thought the point of 21 and older was for reasonable adults to decide for their own body autonomy what was best for them. Why is this industry the only 21 and older industry where adults are told by someone else that they know what’s best for them?

I moved here, built a home here, changed my voting to Georgia and even wear the Dawg’s Jersey on game days when they play LSU; and I am from Louisiana. Do you want to know why? Because I love my community and am part of it. We know our customers by name and know more about them than most because we provide a safe space for them to explain what’s wrong in their lives. We provide a safe space for them to ask detailed questions about things that they may be afraid to ask or feel are taboo. We are truly involved in trying to improve lives. My personal cell phone is on all of my cards because I want to be accessible to those I try to help. That is the true difference in these two industries. We are and always will be part of the heart and soul of our community.

If the demand for our expertise and what we provided didn’t exist, we wouldn’t exist to fulfill it. We aren’t going anywhere because we don’t abandon our communities, our customers or employees. Our lawmakers should remember that.

Williams is the owner of  Loving Botanicals.

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