Help us celebrate our 10 year anniversary as we recall the biggest milestones from our first decade.
Ten years ago, our founders created Medical Marijuana, Inc. with the mission of normalizing the medical and wellness use of cannabinoids, improving the experience of medical cannabis patients, and supporting the booming cannabis industry.
Along the way, we innovated a new, federally legal way to add cannabinoids to your system, created a global pipeline of top quality hemp oil and its derived consumer products, educated users on the basics of cannabis use, and worked with patients fighting for cannabis access around the world.
As we built the foundations of the legal CBD industry, we became A Company of Firsts®, creating many of the processes and quality control measures that are now standard in the industry, opening new markets to cannabinoids like CBD, and helping to make CBD part of the healthcare conversation in the U.S. and around the world.
Join us as we take a look back at the top 10 moments of the last 10 years from across our family of companies!
Launching the First Publicly Traded Cannabis Company in the U.S.
The Medical Marijuana, Inc. story begins in March of 2009, when we became the first company entirely within the cannabis business space to be traded on public stock markets, trading under the ticker symbol MJNA.
This inclusion within the stock market was an important milestone in the mainstream acceptance of the cannabis industry. It allowed anyone to become an investor in the cannabis industry just as it was gearing up for significant growth.
There are now over 50 publicly traded cannabis companies on the U.S. markets, and the market is still rapidly growing as more and more states legalize cannabis for either medical or recreational use.
Although we are headquartered in the U.S. and our stock is traded on domestic markets, Medical Marijuana, Inc. is an international business, and our portfolio of companies and brands is recognized in markets around the world.
Bringing the First Ever CBD Hemp Oil Products to Market
In 2012, we launched the first nationally available CBD products in the U.S. with the Dixie Botanicals® and HempMeds® lines. For the first time, consumers across the U.S. could enjoy the benefits of non-psychoactive CBD from hemp.
In 2012, few people had ever heard of CBD and the health benefits it could provide, so we set out to educate the public on the advantage of using CBD daily. As people experienced the remarkable results from CBD oil for themselves, word began to spread. CBD would soon become recognized as one of the most beneficial compounds available.
Now, 7 years after the first sales, the U.S. market for CBD is worth millions. Following the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill, which removed any gray area around hemp products in the U.S., it is projected to continue to grow to $22 billion by 2022 as mainstream brands enter the CBD market with CBD-infused products.
Not content to rest on our laurels as the originator of hemp-derived CBD products, Medical Marijuana, Inc. and our family of companies continue to innovate new CBD products and further perfect our CBD pipeline to ensure we are offering our customers only the best CBD products available.
Licensing the U.S. Government Patent on Cannabinoids
Along with our consumer CBD products, Medical Marijuana, Inc. is working to develop cannabinoid-based pharmaceuticals for a number of medical conditions through our portfolio of investments.
Medical Marijuana, Inc. portfolio company Kannalife™ Sciences was awarded the first licenses to use the U.S. Government’s patent on cannabinoids – patent 6,630,507: Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants.
The company is using these licenses to develop cannabinoid-based pharmaceutical treatments for a pair of neurological diseases: hepatic encephalopathy or HE, a liver-brain disorder, and CTE or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease discovered in many NFL football players, similar high-impact athletes, and others who experienced head trauma, like military veterans and those in automobile accidents.
Synthesized Novel CBD-like Molecule KLS-13019
Using their licenses on the government’s cannabis patent, Kannalife™ Sciences developed a novel, CBD-like molecule, KLS-13019. Measurements show this synthetic cannabinoid is 50 times more potent (and 400 times less toxic) than natural CBD, making it a strong candidate for pharmaceutical applications. Kannalife™ intends to use this molecule to address neurodegenerative diseases like HE and CTE, as well as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Huntington’s disease.
Patenting Chewing Gum as a Delivery Method for Cannabinoids
Deepening our pharmaceutical portfolio, MJNA took a significant position in development-stage pharmaceutical company AXIM Biotechnologies (OTC: AXIM). The company has since been awarded a U.S. Patent for chewing gum as a delivery method for cannabinoids. Chewing gum is poised to be a major product category for both the medical and recreational use of cannabinoids like CBD and THC.
Using this technology, AXIM’s is in the midst of pharmaceutical product development targeting multiple sclerosis pain and muscular spasticity, nausea, restless leg syndrome, and drug induced psychosis.
Legalization of CBD Oil in Brazil
By 2014, word of the benefits of CBD had travelled around the world, and patients and consumers outside the U.S. began calling for legal access to hemp-derived CBD products.
In Brazil, where there was previously no distinction between marijuana and hemp, we worked directly with local patients and their families in a grassroots effort to help them access Real Scientific Hemp Oil™ CBD products legally. After a class action lawsuit and historic court ruling, the country’s health authority approved our CBD oil products as a prescription medication for refractory epilepsy.
Over time, the program has gone so well that doctors now can write prescriptions for patients with other neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s. Brazil now fully subsidizes Real Scientific Hemp Oil™ CBD oil as part of the country’s healthcare program. Our subsidiary HempMeds® Brasil supports thousands of families through a network of hundreds of doctors around the country.
First Legal CBD Product in Mexico
Two years later, we were able to help patients in Mexico secure the first ever official certificates of import for Real Scientific Hemp Oil™ CBD oil products in the country. Like in Brazil, Medical Marijuana, Inc. worked with families and patients in Mexico to petition the government for access to CBD through a new subsidiary, HempMeds® Mexico.
In order to fulfill Mexico’s regulations and ship our CBD oil to patients, we developed the first ever THC-free hemp oil product, RSHO-X™. Acceptance of our CBD products was a catalyst for cannabis reform in Mexico, leading to the legalization of medical cannabis and a loosening of regulations on access to CBD. HempMeds® Mexico now supports thousands of families around the country and partners with hundreds of doctors.
Later that same year, Medical Marijuana, Inc. began shipping CBD oil products to a third Latin American country when RSHO became the first CBD product to be approved by Paraguay for import. Through our expansion efforts in Central and South America, over 300 million people have gained legal access to CBD.
Speaking Before World Health Organization about CBD Safety
In 2017, Medical Marijuana, Inc. subsidiary HempMeds® Mexico became the first company to address the United Nations and the World Health Organization about CBD.
HempMeds® Mexico President Raul Elizalde spoke at the Thirty-Ninth meeting of the Expert Committee on Drug Dependence to discuss CBD’s benefits and lack of psychoactivity and share his own family’s first-hand experience with CBD.
Based on the testimony of Raul and other experts, the WHO confirmed the safety and health benefits of CBD, stating that, because there is zero chance for addiction, CBD should not be a Scheduled Drug.
Kannaway Expands CBD Access in Europe
Medical Marijuana, Inc. subsidiary Kannaway, the first cannabis company to use the direct selling model, expanded operations into Europe, officially celebrating its grand opening in 2018. The company held a series of events in Europe’s major cities to promote its line of hemp-based products, generate excitement for the earning opportunity offered by Kannaway, and grow its team of European brand ambassadors.
The company now ships its line of hemp and CBD products to 35 countries, including throughout the U.S., nearly all of the European Union, and to various territories within these regions. As part of Kannaway’s expansion efforts, the company worked with European regulatory authorities to educate them on CBD as they create regulations on this new European industry.
Partnering with ECHO Connection
Nothing is more important to us at Medical Marijuana, Inc. than bringing the benefits of cannabinoids to those who need them most. That’s why we’re so proud to work with ECHO as our official charitable partner. With help from donations from the Medical Marijuana, Inc. family of companies, ECHO Connection has been able to assist over 100 families with product donations totaling nearly $1M – and growing.
More information is found on their website: www.echoconnection.org.
Thank You!
Thank you for following along with Medical Marijuana, Inc.’s first ten years. As we look back at all the lives we’ve touched, we know that we couldn’t have done it without our investors, employees, customers, and partners all around the world. We could not be more excited for what’s to come for Medical Marijuana, Inc. and the cannabis industry in the next 10 years!
You can keep up with the latest from Medical Marijuana, Inc. and our portfolio of companies by visiting our news feed.
