“The oils produced there are a fantastic product and help loads of people. In the UK, the market is only just waking up to CBD oil’s potential.”
George’s company sells the highest quality Cannabis Sativa L extracts available in the UK.
At home on the family’s 160-acre farm, George explains that the business was launched in September 2017 with funding from his father Geremy’s investment vehicle, Sativa Group PLC, the UK’s first publicly-listed cannabis investment company.
George is managing director and owner of George Botanicals, which aims to be the market leader in the development and production of cannabinoid products, growing, manufacturing and distributing cannabis oils.
He also works hand-in-hand with sister company Phytovista, a specialist cannabis laboratory set-up last summer by his father, and dedicated to testing the oils and other hemp-based products.
The two businesses work closely together to ensure the highest standards in this relatively new health sector.
The family is licensed by the Home Office to grow hemp and aims shortly to provide a “seed-to-consumer experience”, once all the necessary permissions are in place.
Cannabis plants contain more than 100 cannabinoids, of which CBD (cannabidiol) is one and THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is another. CBD is extracted from the flowers and leaves of the Cannabis Sativa L (industrial hemp) plant.
The extracts have no psychoactive properties, no recreational value and are legal, having been withdrawn from the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned substances list last year.
As of November, 2018, those patients with severe forms of illness like epilepsy and multiple sclerosis and in need of CBD with THC as a medicine from a specialist doctor.
However, there is much debate currently as to how readily available these medicines are and the process by which to obtain them is extremely difficult.
An estimated 300,000 people in the UK are now regularly using CBD oil, in the hope of easing a number of health conditions, from chronic pain to inflammation, acne, anxiety and insomnia.
The company plans to extract both CBD (non-psychoactive) and the more controversial THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) oils, which contain an element of psychoactive compound, but are safe when used under carefully-controlled conditions.
As George explains: “CBD and THC products are as different as apples and oranges.”
George is anxious to stress that hemp is grown legally across the UK and Europe and provides a number of different products as well as the oil – a strong and versatile fibre, used in the building and clothing industry, and nutritious seeds.
Despite gaining Home Office approval to grow hemp on the farm, only a small acreage is planted so far, under test conditions.
At present, the production line uses CBD extract imported from Colorado in the United States and Slovenia, but George plans to extract CBD from their own hemp crop very soon.
It’s an exciting time to be an entrepreneur and George is clearly relishing the challenges of being in at the birth of a new UK industry, with the possibility of branching out into many more products, including shampoo and toothpaste.
*The full range of Cannabis oil-based products, including drops in various flavours, as well as balm and vape liquid for e-cigarettes, can be found at Georgebotanicals.com with prices starting from £20.
www.georgebotanicals.com