• by Les Luchter , Staff Writer, Yesterday

When new regulations effectively banned the sale of full-spectrum CBD products in California this summer, hemp brand Charlotte’s Web took to the road, driving a “Route CBD” truck around Nevada so that Californians could visit and restock legally.

For Charlotte’s Web, the truck addresses a health issue, Chief Commercial Officer Mindy Garrison tells Pharma & Health Insider.

On Route CBD’s first day, she recalls, “a family drove for three hours and met us about five minutes after the truck had opened for business. Their daughter suffers from a mental health condition. If she’s not taking Charlotte’s Web, she’s antisocial and isn’t able to engage in regular daily life. On Charlotte’s Web, she’s part of Special Olympics and a fabulous artist.”  As part of the Route CBD campaign, the brand has posted a video telling their story.   

The very name Charlotte’s Web, in fact, has nothing to do with the iconic E.B. White children’s novel, but stems instead from a child with a healthcare problem.

Five-year-old Charlotte Figi was suffering from Dravet syndrome in 2012 when her mother reached out to the Stanley Brothers, CBD developers, for a possible remedy.  Using a strain they developed, Charlotte’s seizures fell from 300 a week to one or two a month, Garrison relates.  The strain was soon named Charlotte’s Web, with the company launching in 2014.

The original strain is now called “Original Formula” in the company’s large product lineup, whose best-sellers include sleeping and calming products.

While only full-spectrum hemp products were affected by the changed California regulations, those make up roughly 60% of Charlotte’s Web business.

Garrison says, however, that broad-spectrum hemp products “work great for most people” and that Charlotte’s Web is “redesigning part of our portfolio to include more broad-spectrum product.

Yet, she notes, “some people really need the full spectrum, and we don’t want to lose access to that.”

And another deadline is looming. A Nov. 12federal ban on so-called “intoxicating” hemp products has now been extended to Dec. 11^t, with Chalotte’s Web involved in “Know the Difference,” a lobbying effort designed “to help educate Congress on the difference between therapeutic hemp versus intoxicating hemp,” Garrison says, explaining that the issue is “very nuanced.”

“We strongly support [having] intoxicating and synthetic products removed from the shelf,” she declares, “We don’t want those products being accessible to children.”

Footage from the Route CBD tour is being used as part of the lobbying effort, Garrison adds.

Meanwhile, the truck -- which is decorated with the message "Safe Therapeutic Hemp for Californians” --  has lately been spotted in California itself.

But it’s not selling any product there. Rather, the full-spectrum hemp is being given away. “We can’t sell it in California, but we can give it away,” Garrison explain.

So you could say that Charlotte’s Web has come full circle.

“Charlotte’s Web started as a mission, not a company,” states the “About Us” page on the company’s website. “In the early days, our extract was something we gave away to help those who could benefit from it.”