IHS in the Community
Now that we have developed an exceptional line of CBD products for our patients, we want everyone to experience its benefits and relief! While you can find our products in some local health & wellness stores and IPS clinics in the South (map), our main resource for distribution comes from our Hemp Educator and Medical Hemp programs. Education is so important when introducing CBD into a treatment regime; so we are sharing our knowledge with the community by recruiting and training passionate people to serve as our ambassadors and get our CBD products into the hands of the people who need it.
Our Hemp Educator Program is designed for people with a passion for hemp CBD who want to help others and generate supplemental income as an independent contractor within our organization. As more people look for alternatives to opioids, this is a critical time to educate the mainstream on the many benefits of CBD and how it can help treat certain conditions.
Our Medical Hemp Program is designed for doctors, healthcare professionals and medical practitioners who are interested in learning more about the endocannabinoid system and how to talk to patients about using CBD/Hemp to alleviate a number of conditions including: PTSD, chronic pain, arthritis, insomnia, anxiety, lack of focus, inflammation and general health and wellness.
We have also participated in a number of local programs to introduce CBD and educate new communities, in particular the aging population. As the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age, a number of people age 65+ are using CBD. According to a recent study published in the Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence, twice as many adults aged 50-64 (nine percent) and about seven times as many adults 65 and older (three percent) reported using cannabis in the past year, compared to a decade ago.
I recently gave a presentation at a wonderful event organized by H.O.P.E. (Helping Outcomes for Parents of Exceptional children) and Imagine This! called Harvest The Good. The event was focused on helping autistic children and their families learning how CBD or hemp could help with their medical situations. While CBD wasn’t going to cure their autism, it could help calm them without the side effects of medication. These kids are so heavily medicated they have very little personality anymore, and that is what the parents in the room wanted the most - they want their kid back! These families have been told time and again that medication is the only treatment, but CBD can help bring them peace without shutting them out.
Another powerful event I attended recently in Charlotte was for RSDS.org for patients with neuropathic pain. CRPS/RSD is a life-altering condition characterized by one of the most severe levels of pain – 42 out of a possible 50 on the McGill University Pain Scale. It generally results from an injury that causes an inappropriate response in the brain and the nervous system goes haywire. There’s not a lot of ways to reset the nervous system - so most of these people will live with pain their entire lives - but CBD can help them sleep and calm down, and can take the edge off of the pain. Talking with the people there makes you want to do anything you can to help them. I worked with them to figure out how to integrate CBD into their medical plans, and I educated them on what it can and can’t do for them, setting realistic expectations.
Once again, this goes back to neuroplasticity and changing the brain through a combination of treatments involving hemp, CBD, counseling and supplements. This truly is the foundation for which the future of medical treatment should be established.
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