LAS VEGAS – For those who don’t understand the difference between marijuana and industrial hemp, Nick DiFrancesco (pictured far right with PūrWell execs at Medtrade Spring 2019 in Las Vegas) has an easy-to-remember slogan: all the health without the high.
The saying may be simplistic, but it helped educate HME providers earlier this month at Medtrade Spring, where PūrWell CBD took the Gold Award in the New Product Pavilion Providers’ Choice Awards, sponsored by HomeCare Magazine. PūrWell CBD is a proprietary line of organic, all natural hemp oil products that promote general health and wellness.
“The award was a validation,” says DiFrancesco, vice president of Sales and Marketing, PūrWell. “This product is a custom formulation. People want a natural way to fall asleep [via PūrSlēp, the company’s flagship product] and stay asleep. We’re going to be launching other custom formulations, and it’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who sees the value.”
A Farm Bill signed late last year only bolstered PurWell’s prospects. “The bill federally regulates cannabidiol, or CBD,” DiFrancesco reports. “In the cannabis plant there are 167 cannabinoids and CBD is one. Industrial Hemp was legalized under the Farm Bill Act, making it legal in all states to sell, consume, and distribute across the nation. However, I always implore people to check their own local laws—particularly in Idaho, Nebraska, and South Dakota there are some issues with the sale of CBD.”
DiFrancesco used to work for Veritas Farms, and PūrWell uses the same 140-acre farm in Pueblo, Colorado. PūrWell’s product has 0.3 THC (3/10 of one percent), which is the legal amount that can be sold without it being a marijuana product. DiFrancesco puts it this way: “Marijuana is bred for psychotropic effects and high THC/low CBD, whereas cannabinoids such as industrial hemp is high CBD content and low THC. Our products are made with industrial hemp, not marijuana. There is nothing illegal and there are no psychotropic effects.”
As a product specifically geared for the medical industry, PurWell’s products are not under the banner of a “lifestyle” brand, and will not be found in head shops. “Ours is a pharmaceutical grade product and we put it into medical professionals’ hands,” DiFrancesco adds. “We use a cold ethanol extraction method that does not degrade the product. It is a full spectrum hemp oil.”
Firmly convinced that DME providers can learn how to effectively sell the product, PūrWell is making plans to be at Medtrade, scheduled for Oct 21-23, 2019, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.
