On a 40-acre farm in a small South Carolina town, John Jameson is trying to bring some truth and transparency to a new industry that’s booming in popularity — but due to a dearth of regulation, is also loaded with questions that can place doubt in consumers’ minds.
The industry is cannabidiol, better known as CBD, which mushroomed into a billion-dollar health phenomenon after the U.S. government legalized industrial hemp in late 2018. Jameson’s approach is called “seed to sale,” and it begins in Neeses, a town about 40 miles south of Columbia — where the industrial hemp grown for his company, Nature’s Highway, is cultivated, harvested, dried and cured.
From the time the hemp sprouts in the Palmetto State soil to the time the hemp is ready to be harvested and crafted into CBD goods for consumer use, it never passes through the hands of someone who isn’t a partner in Jameson’s endeavor. In an industry where there’s very little oversight, and where disingenuous purveyors can put anything in a bottle and call it CBD, Nature’s Highway has designed a clear and candid process designed to bolster consumer trust.
“It's really comforting to know that when we watch our plants grow, that eventually they're going to end up in our product,” says Jameson, a Columbia native. “So it's cool to see it from the beginning to the end. And if there's something that's not right, we can put a halt to it.”