Exton entrepreneur Andrew Follett has big plans for the future, but before they can be realized, there is a complex public relations hurdle he has to overcome, writes Brian McCullough for the Daily Local News.
The task is formidable, as Follett Health Solutions, Follett’s company, sells the “highest quality hemp foods and ingredients, to retail, food service, bulk customers, as well as to end consumer product manufacturers.”
Follett’s first goal is to distance hemp from being immediately branded as marijuana and to increase the awareness of the product that is as old as the nation. “It is part of the American dream,” he said to Daily Local News. “We never would have gotten our independence without it. We never would have had our liberty and freedom.”
According to supporters of the plant, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams all grew hemp on their land. Unlike marijuana, which along with hemp is one of the usual names associated with products from the cannabis plant, hemp itself contains barely any of the THC compounds that give marijuana its psychoactive qualities.
Unfortunately however, the name hemp and its perceived connection to marijuana, makes this versatile product one of the most under-utilized plants available. As Follett, who is originally from Downingtown, points out that hemp has a myriad of uses which range from flooring products, composite materials, plastics, paper, and Hempcrete building materials to food products for human consumption, livestock and poultry feed, horse bedding, biofuels, and cover crops.
