CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – A Conway company is going national with its brand of Cannabidiol (CBD) oil and other cannabis-based products.
Palmetto Synergistic Research, otherwise known as Palmetto Harmony, is located in Conway. Founder and CEO, Janel Ralph, started the company after her daughter, Harmony, was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called lissencephaly.
Harmony used to have multiple seizures a day and anti-epileptic drugs didn’t help.
“They basically told us there wasn’t much else they could do for her,” said Ralph. She then turned to CBD oil, which instantly helped Harmony’s seizures, and then got into the business herself.
“We wanted everybody to understand this is a legal enterprise,” said Ralph. “We are not an illegal, shady business. We wanted to make sure we kept it as mainstream as possible and educated as much of the public as possible on hemp and what it is.”
A new, national commercial for Palmetto Harmony is now a part of that plan. You can view the entire video: here.
“We felt we were in a position to go ahead and push forward with not only getting approval for a national commercial but also airing a national commercial,” added Ralph.
She said it’s the first cannabis-based product to have a commercial on nationally syndicated networks including CBS, ABC, NBC, Oxygen, Lifetime Movies, and BBC-America.
“Three years ago if you even mentioned cannabis in South Carolina people probably would’ve stopped and rolled their eyes,” said Ralph.
However, her company is now on the national stage and the commercial is airing in 71 different cities. Ralph said there was a multi-level process of getting approval and they had to be very careful of the words and images chosen for the spot.
There are no hemp plants seen in the commercial and there is no specific mention of CBD oil or cannabis.
“There are some things we would’ve loved to have been able to say or talk about,” said Ralph. “[Like] hemp or talk about cannabis in the commercial which we just weren’t able to do at this time.”
Ralph is looking forward to the start of next year’s pilot program to grow hemp in South Carolina.
In May, Governor McMaster signed a law to allow a pilot program for 20 farmers to grow hemp in the state and partner with South Carolina universities to study it.
Ralph said about 120 farmers applies but there has been no word yet from the Department of Agriculture on which farmers were accepted into the program.
