I just got this email from Dixie Botanicals:
PRESS RELEASE
Product Quality and Efficacy Clarification
Dixie Botanicals, Denver CO – November 26, 2013
It has come to our attention that Dixie’s former head of science has recently made several salacious accusations about the quality and efficacy of our Dixie Botanicals Cannabidiol (CBD) Hemp Oil Wellness product. While typically, we would not respond to any unfounded allegations, we felt that we needed to speak up. These blatantly false comments are causing fear and ultimately harm to the thousands of people who every day benefit from Dixie Botanical’s products.
Dixie Botanical’s prides itself on the quality and efficacy of our products. We use the highest quality raw material and rigorously test each batch of our products to ensure that they meet the highest standards. All of our products are designed to meet FDA ingredient and labeling compliance and we obtain Certificate of Analysis (CoA) on each batch of raw material to ensure that it is clean of any microbials or solvents, and is high in hemp-based CBD.
We are shocked by Ms. Wise’s allegations that we do not thoroughly test our products as she was responsible for and oversaw these efforts during her tenure as Dixie’s Head of Science from July 5th, 2011 to August 2nd, 2013. To suggest that we use bad product is not only an indictment of the Company, but of Ms. Wise herself and her own scientific practices. To prove the point, we have published test results, including microbial tests, CoA confirmation tests, and product test from the later part of Ms. Wise’s tenure. Needless to say, all raw materials and final product passed our rigorous testing procedures. To view these, please go to
DixieBotanicals.com/lab-certified-quality/.
Ms. Wise and members of her Science team resigned after a dispute with the Company. They believed they were entitled to ownership of intellectual property that was created while they were paid employees of the Company. Clearly, we disagreed since we believed this was part of their job description and we funded their entire research. We accepted their resignation and quickly filled the Head of Science position with Shellene Suemori, a Cellular and Molecular Biologist who has worked on several NASA funded projects. She continues to bring Dixie Botanicals and the science behind our products to the next level.
Dixie Botanical is disappointed in Ms. Wise and her tactics. We understand that she and the other employees that resigned are embarking on a new endeavor called Big Hemp, a company that will compete directly with Dixie Botanicals. This clarifies, in our mind, the objectives of Ms. Wise’s remarks and makes it even more apparent that her motives are less than genuine.
We have no ill feelings towards Ms. Wise and no interest in fighting with former employees - this industry is too small and our mission too big. However, we do have a responsibility to our investors, our employees and most importantly, our customers to not allow the actions of a disgruntled individual harm the hard work of our team.
We hope this is the end of this story. If not, we are prepared to resort to any and all legal remedies at our disposal to protect the integrity of our company and ensure our customers trust the high standards to which we measure ourselves.
For more information, please contact Christie Lunsford at
clunsford@dixiebotanicals.com.
Thank you,
The Dixie Botanicals Team