Finding the right partners is paramount in any business, including in the medical cannabis industry. While profit is important to keeping a company running, there are some cannabis companies that serve a loftier purpose. In the case of Florida-based VidaCann and its exclusive partners the Stanley Brothers and Tikun Olam, this means cultivating and selling medically proven products that provide symptomatic relief to those who are suffering.
VidaCann founder Peyton Moseley first became involved in the cannabis world when he and his wife, Holley, were lobbying for the legalization of medical marijuana in Florida to help their daughter, RayAnn. Diagnosed with intractable epilepsy, they knew it could help prevent seizures; something they learned after watching a documentary on the Stanley Brothers, the creators of the product, Charlotte’s Web.
“We were very active on a personal level for lobbying in Florida to get the law changed because we were running out of treatment options,” said Moseley, VidaCann vice president of product development. “After we saw the documentary, we called the Stanley Brothers and met with them in Colorado. We saw how medical cannabis could work. Then we came back to Florida and began fighting to get it legalized here.”
Now the only grower licensed to cultivate the authentic Charlotte’s Web strain in Florida, VidaCann was looking to expand their product offerings when Moseley was introduced to the company Tikun Olam, based out of Israel, when buying extraction equipment from Italian manufacturer Hightech.
“It is ironic that we were investing in very specific high-tech extraction equipment out of Italy at the same time that VidaCann was investing in the same,” said Stephen Gardner, chief marketing officer, Tikun Olam Global. “That told us that, like us, they had a no-corners-cut type of approach.”
As a multistate brand operator, Tikun Olam looks for companies to partner with that emphasize the medical side of the equation. “We were looking at multiple license producers in Florida to see whose DNA aligned with ours because we are a medical brand—we needed a partner who understood that philosophy and approach,” said Gardner.
Tikun Olam has a long and rich history in the medical cannabis industry, having developed exclusive proprietary strains to provide patient relief since 2005. The foremost supplier of medical cannabis in Israel, the company is recognized as the pioneer of modern medical cannabis.
“Our name, Tikun Olam, is based on a 1,000-year-old tenet of the Hebrew faith, which means “repair the world,” said Gardner. “We make the world a better place through cannabis and cannabis research.”
The company started as a nonprofit, developing proprietary genetics for symptomatic relief. “Other companies might have been driven by higher yields or higher THC; we were looking for dramatic relief for patients,” said Gardner. “For two decades, our mission has been to advocate for medical cannabis through research and studies.”
A flag bearer in medical research, Tikun Olam has the world’s largest cannabis database of more than 10,000 patients, which is the result of years of painstaking clinical trials and studies with hospitals and universities. Their research includes testing their proprietary strains for use in Crohn’s disease, colitis, fibromyalgia, autism, cancer and geriatric care, and more.
“Tikun Olam doesn’t mean to just repair Israel, but to repair the world,” said Gardner of the company’s expansion into Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Greece and now the United States.
In Florida, VidaCann carries all six of the company’s proprietary strains and works with Tikun Olam every step of the way to ensure that the product meets its exacting standards. “We want the patient experience to be the same in Florida as it is when people use Tikun Olam products in Israel,” said Moseley.
VidaCann also partners with the Realm of Caring Foundation, established in part by the Stanley Brothers, which gives clients access to authoritative, data-driven and real-world support around the use of medical cannabis. The foundation’s Realm Cares™ program also helps those on fixed incomes or facing financial hardships benefit from the power of cannabis medicine.
“When we’re looking for partners, we’re not just looking for great products; we want someone engaged, socially conscious, and who puts patients before profits,” said Moseley. “We’ve found this in both of our partners.”
