Mountain Climbing

CBD Company Birthed Out of Necessity

By Abby Meaux Conques

Heather Comeaux Carter & company’s CBD business, Mountain Pure CBD, out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana is one of those business stories that grew out of necessity.

The CBD business is a result of Carter‘s seeking out natural and holistic medicines after getting sober from an opioid addiction eight years ago.

“The only natural plant medicine I could find that actually worked for me was CBD,” Carter said. Carter used CBD when she needed something safe and effective for aches and pains, anxiousness and sleeplessness.

It wasn’t until she needed to find something to help her child in 2015 with his own struggles. At the time he was a tender six-year-old, and she had the drive to find something to help him that wasn’t a harmful medication. “My husband went to Colorado and actually found a CBD meant specifically for children.” His trip planted the seed for the future business that the Carters and company would eventually start.

“There wasn’t anything comparable with lab tests around here, so my only choice was to make my own for my son,” Carter explained.

“I was very meticulous in the making of our oil and before long I had inquiries from friends and family to make batches for them,” Carter said. “Everything involved and organically grew from there.”

Carter claims that her husband, Chad, has always been a visionary of the business. Carter mentions Chad Carter is the one that pushes the envelope and suggests the implementation of new and effective types of products.

Carter explained that they got into this business during the years when people were extremely skeptical of CBD and its benefits. Chad and Heather, along with another business partner, Natalie, worked on every aspect of the business as much as they all could between other jobs to fill in the gaps and pay their bills.

“From the beginning, we branded ourselves as a therapeutic company. After the business began to grow organically, we realized that we really wanted to be there for the people who are over the age of 40 with many chronic needs,” Carter explained.

The company felt like the best way to go product-wise in the beginning was to offer a broad spectrum oil. “We felt like it would be useful for so many ailments; it was the way to go in our opinion.“ Even though it’s the most expensive way to manufacture CBD, it was important to Carter to offer the most beneficial way to combine multiple elements without having any THC content.

In terms of extraction, full spectrum is cheaper to extract because the process is completed only once. Isolates are cheaper to manufacture because they are processed times over.

The Mountain Pure CBD company obtains a CBD isolate with CBD, CBG & CBN extracted from wax out of a Colorado lab & has their own manufacturing facility in Baton Rouge.

“All of the recipes are ours – we take pride in that. We know we were the creators of them to help people, and that feels really good,“ Carter said.

“We are big believers in the entourage effect.” The entourage effect is described as CBD, CBG and CBN, which is closer to the whole plant and better for the body. Simply CBG alone allows the CBD to react better on a cellular level.

Mountain Pure CBD is in a variety of retail shops including Body Botanicals Herbal Wellness Center in Baton Rouge which is also a business interest of the Carters.. All of their products are sold online as well. As an exclusive for Louisiana Hemp Magazine readers, you can use a discount code #hemp for a discount on your online order.

In addition to owning a CBD business, Carter also serves as executive director of the Louisiana Cannabis Retailers Association. “It’s a grassroots effort to communicate and work with representatives in order to educate them about how their decisions regarding cannabis laws affect the general population,” Carter explained. “The state has really crippled the industry with overregulation, but I truly believe it’s because of lack of information.” Carter and the association hope to help with that.

Education is needed across the whole board regarding the Cannabis Industry. “I want us to at least be able to start the conversation and educate people. One of the ways this needs to be done starts with the personal responsibility of the consumer,” Carter mentioned. Since true regulations are loosely enforced, people are diluting and misrepresenting CBD products.

“You simply can’t rely on the overregulation. No one can keep up with it and the due diligence to ensure that these companies are really putting what they’re saying they’re putting into these products. There are some companies blatantly labeling their product as THC-Free and Full Spectrum. That’s impossible.” Grievances like these appear to be all the more reason for the consumer to take it upon themselves to read up on scientific articles and educate themselves on what they’re putting in their own bodies. “When it comes down to it, we’re still at a point where you have to be your own advocate. Personal empowerment is everything.”

When I asked what extra measures the consumer can take besides extensively researching CBD companies, Carter mentioned that legitimate CBD manufacturers will have lab test results readily available for anyone to look up on their website at a moment’s notice.

What is Carter’s hope for the future? “That all things alternative be covered one day by insurance companies. All of my pharmaceuticals are free; how is that fair?“

Since day one, Carter’s vision has been to have access to natural and holistic therapies that work for a multitude of ailments. At first, her focus was on herself and her own family; the only thing that has changed is her vision to have these products accessible to more people in the community.