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TRENDWATCH SPOTLIGHT
Moving in to CBD North Carolina Distribution (NCD), a sister company of Dean Rouse’s M&R Holdings, has launched its debut line of top-quality full spectrum CBD products in a unique, high-tech partnership with Carolina Hemp Products. > BY E. EDWARD HOYT III
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hile the CBD market has recently exploded, seventh generation tobacco farmer Dean Rouse, owner North Carolina Distribution (NCD), is confident that his company’s recently-launched offering, Crystal Coast Infusion full-spectrum CBD oil, has a significant advantage over the quickly crowding market segment. “We started looking into this about four years ago,” says Rouse, who is also owner of NCD’s sister company, M&R Holdings—a fixture among tobacco retailers for decades. “My friend and mentor, Dwight Howard, approached me and said, ‘We’ve got all the resources and everything to do this, and we feel we can make a better product than anyone on the market based on our farming expertise.’” Rouse and Howard decided to collaborate in a joint venture to develop a line of top-grade CBD products. Howard’s company, Carolina Hemp Products of Kinston, N.C., handles all of the farming and production, while NCD— which has been in business since 2001, now focuses its expertise exclusively on distribution and marketing. Originally
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established to sell tobacco products solely in North Carolina, NCD now serves exclusively as the nationwide distributor of Crystal Coast Infusion CBD products, while M&R Holdings handles tobacco products, “to keep everything separate and accountable,” explains Rouse. The new venture, which builds upon 40 years of personal friendship between the business partners, encompasses
a common goal and shared values in reaching it. “We’ve been friends a long, long time, and we both wanted to do something positive,” Rouse explains of the joint partnership. “Our primary goal here is to help people, and that is our primary purpose. We believe that the hemp products, and specifically the CBD oils and associated products, are going to give people a better life. That is our ultimate goal.” Just as Rouse’s tobacco farming ancestry dates back to 1732, Howard’s family has an extensive background in farming, and the new venture is adhering to impeccable standards. Utilizing former tobacco greenhouses updated with the latest technology for hemp production, Carolina Hemp Products has even had special blends of potting soil developed to give its hybrid plant the necessary strong start they need to thrive. “Everything we’re doing is truly organic. Everything,” says Rouse proudly. “There is no chemical residue, so it’s a 100% true organic product with no pesticides. We’re in complete control of the products: from soil to oil, we call it.” Plant clones are produced from cuttings, allowing for the production of large quantities of offspring from a mother plant, nourished with watering systems that distribute organic-based nutrients. A combination of artificial
> Tobacco farmer Dean Rouse, owner, North Carolina Distribution and M&R Holdings, Inc.
