In the world of cannabis, it’s usually THC, the plant’s psychoactive agent, that gets the lion’s share of publicity and in turn fuels public perceptions about cannabis. However, it is another major cannabinoid, known as cannabidiol that is changing the landscape. Cannabidiol (CBD) does not have mind-altering effects like THC, but it’s been proposed that it carries a host of potential benefits.
One Colorado new business venture, named Gold Care LLC, has taken note of this and positioned itself as a one stop shop for all your top shelf CBD needs; as compared to the vast majority of dispensaries that lean more heavily on products with THC in their inventory. Gold Care is based in Greeley, Colorado, about 65 miles north of Denver.
“The power of the hemp plant is incredible,” said the store’s founder Matthew Aguiar. “I really wanted to open a shop that was dedicated to the medicinal value of the hemp plant, focusing on high-CBD cannabis products to provide an alternative to pharmaceuticals for patients with minor disorders and life-threatening diseases.”
Since Gold Care LLC’s opening in early 2017, Matthew Aguiar and his staff have helped hundreds of medical consumers. The store’s Facebook page is littered with testimonials from satisfied Gold Care customers. One commenter claims that a friend began using CBD products to cope with stage IV cancer and was able to gain weight thanks to a CBD oil recommended by the staff at Gold Care. Others claim that CBD has helped them significantly reduce their anxiety and panic attacks.
Gold Care’s hemp product offering includes CBD drops and vape pens, coffee, topicals, lozenges and honey. The store also sells CBD-infused dog treats, joining in on a new trend that enables animal owners to provide a greater level of care to elderly or infected pets. “The CBD oil has been amazing for my aging dog. She gets around so much better,” one commenter posted on the Gold Care Facebook page.
The hemp plant has a notable history dating back thousands of years, and Matthew Aguiar has studied its place in society. “This is a plant that has been passed on in American industry since the beginning of the United States. In fact, the Declaration of Independence itself was drafted on hemp paper,” he stated.
During World War II, the United States government encouraged farmers to grow hemp. In 1942, the US Department of Agriculture produced the film Hemp for Victory in an effort to show farmers the history of the hemp plant, how it is cultivated and how it can be used to make cloth, rope and countless other products.
Today, the hemp plant’s medicinal indications largely due to its CBD component are causing a paradigm shift in medical practices. A study published in the journal Health Affairs confirmed that states that have legalized cannabis are beginning to see significant drops in the amount of annual pharmaceutical prescriptions. The study, which observed Medicare Part D enrollees from 2010 to 2013, found that medical consumers in states with legal marijuana could be increasingly choosing it as an alternative to prescription drugs.
Gold Care LLC positions itself to serve those looking to avoid pharmaceuticals. Matthew Aguiar thrives on giving medical consumers inexpensive options to deal with their illness. By medicating with hemp, customers are able to exert a much larger degree of control over their treatment than prescription drugs offer. Aguiar has seen the results from customers who report that CBD products are helping them treat insomnia, arthritis, nerve pain, fibromyalgia and more.
“Patients should not need to break the bank to get the treatment they deserve,” Aguiar commented. “That’s where Gold Care comes in. Getting access to high-quality hemp extract like Charlotte’s Web by the Stanley Brothers, or our premium Gold Care tinctures is cheaper and easier than dealing with the bureaucratic process of the pharmaceutical industry. Plus, our CBD remedies are all-natural and contain far fewer harmful side effects than the prescription drugs that are advertised on television.”
As states continue to legalize cannabis, the healing powers of the hemp plant could cause a major swing in American industry. There have been numerous reports of pharma, tech and business professionals jumping ship and joining the cannabis revolution. One such example is Chris Diorio, a 25-year pharma industry veteran that became director of research and development for a New York medical cannabis grower named PharmaCann.
“There are a lot of other people like me who came out of the chemical industry, or engineers, many pharmacists. There are published Ph.D. scientists, people with drug-delivery patents,” Diorio told Marijuana Business Daily in 2017.
Looking into the future, the prospects for building a culture that fully embraces the wondrous hemp plant are improving significantly. We could see more hemp shops like Gold Care LLC open up in states where legalization has occurred. Further testing and research might unlock many more healing powers of CBD. For now, medical consumers in the Greeley, Colorado area are glad to have Matthew Aguiar on their side as they seek affordable, effective treatment for their ailments.