Hemp
Meet Tim Gordon: Longtime Advocate and CEO of Functional Remedies
Tim Gordon is utilizing his cultivation knowledge and expertise to operate one of Colorado’s premier CBD companies, Functional Remedies.
“If there’s one thing that I could tell people, it’s that cannabis is life,” says Tim Gordon, CEO of Functional Remedies. “We’ve gone through years of misinformation and lies about this plant. But now that’s all changing and it’s going to be widely accepted.”
Gordon would know. While many players in the cannabis industry are relatively new to it — looking to capitalize on a burgeoning new economic space — he’s been cultivating for the better part of three decades, starting in the cornfields near where he grew up in Ohio. He later operated as a caregiver and eventually opened his own dispensary in Colorado.
Apart from his commercial endeavors, he’s also been a constant advocate for the plant, starting Front Range NORML in 2006. More recently he’s served as the president for the Colorado Hemp Industries Association and as an advising member of the state’s hemp legislative roundtable. Gordon has invested his energy, time and economic livelihood in a myriad of cannabis-related fields, earning him a unique perspective on both cultivation and issues concerning the industry’s growth.
Moving Into the CBD Space With Functional Remedies
Gordon’s work growing cannabis for patients led him to be interested in what he calls the “entourage effect” of the plant — basically, how the full spectrum of the plant’s properties work together to benefit health. He eventually sold his dispensary in Colorado and is now utilizing his cultivation knowledge and expertise to operate one of Colorado’s premier CBD companies, Functional Remedies.
Functional Remedies is a fully vertically integrated CBD company, growing hemp near Pueblo, Colorado and processing and packaging in Boulder. For Gordon, being vertically integrated is an important part of controlling the quality of their product, as well as the impact that their operation has on the environment.
“We consider ourselves stewards of the land and the environment,” Gordon said. “We do everything with the plant in mind first. We go well beyond organic practices. Every single plant is touched by a human. Plant passion is the theme of our farm.”
The approximately 50 acres they have dedicated to hemp also benefit from the region’s climate. Situated near the Saint Charles and Arkansas rivers, the plants benefit from an abundance of water to irrigate, plenty of precipitation and 300 days a year of sunshine, says Gordon.
Colorado’s Legislature is Helping Dictate How the Industry Grows
Colorado hemp growers benefit from more than just a hospitable physical environment. Their state is a national leader in pro-cannabis legislation. In the most recent legislative session, the legislature passed a bill (SB18-235 Industrial Hemp Research Authority) broadening the ability for private- and public-sector universities to do more research into cannabis. In March 2018, the Colorado Senate also voted unanimously to pass Senate Bill 205, which among other things defines hemp as an agricultural commodity, which opens a wide array of options for growers and producers.
“We’ve been really successful,” Gordon said. “It’s time consuming and demanding, but they’ve done a lot of great work for Colorado producers and farmers. Colorado will continue to be the leader for the next few years when it comes to legislative and regulatory aspects related to cannabis. There’s generally bipartisan support for hemp to be taken off the controlled substance act.”
While legislatively Colorado may lead the nation, Gordon believes the industry still has room for growth and improvement Gordon.
“The biggest obstacle we’re facing right now is the green rush mentality,” Gordon said. “Everyone wants to get in, but the backbone isn’t there to support it yet. Once some of the big ag states come in, I think we’ll really see the opening of the gates with an explosion of processing facilities and more people using hemp for industrial applications. Once that happens, we’ll see general acceptance from agriculture that hemp is a great product to be farming.”
As the industry and market grow, Functional Remedies is well positioned to reap the rewards of that growth — in large part due to their specialized genetics that Gordon has been working on for decades. Gordon said that people come to Functional Remedies because they feel that their products are more effective than other CBD products they’ve tried, which is ultimately the most important aspect of the business.
“I want to be a recognized brand in the hemp space for complete wellness and vitality,” Gordon said. “I want to bring balance to the world, and we can do that through this plant and our products. I truly believe that we are the only ones to produce this highly effective product. It’s changed many lives, including mine.”
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