Quicksilver Scientific CEO: Public Understands CBD's Benefits, But Regulatory Roadblocks Need To Be Eliminated

Businesses specializing in health supplements and nutraceuticals could be in a better position to capture a share of the CBD market than new entrants due to their expertise in manufacturing and marketing natural remedies and supplements.

For Quicksilver Scientific, the growing popularity of CBD has allowed the company to post exponential growth in the last three years and reach profitability using a $500,000 initial investment and several loans. 

The company has been profitable since 2016, and this allows it to focus on market growth, founder and CEO Dr. Chris Shade told Benzinga. 

From Functional Medicine To CBD

Quicksilver Scientific has a proprietary delivery technology that uses nano-emulsified CBD, which has a body uptake that is 5.33 times faster compared to oil-dispersed CBD, according to the company. 

“The result is quick onset of CBD’s beneficial properties in as little as 5 minutes, with a peak in the bloodstream in 20 to 30 minutes,” CEO Dr. Chris Shade told Benzinga. 

Quicksilver is considering a merger with a strategic partner in order to expand internationally, Shade told Benzinga. 

Quicksilver products are available today in the U.S., Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. 

International growth remains a priority for the company in both the more traditional nutraceutical market as well as CBD, the CEO said. 

Quicksilver's growth has also come to a large degree due to a strong management team, Shade said. 

"The visionary in the middle sets the path and needs to be able to see all of the parts of the puzzle, and course correct as needed. The team around you must be able to implement course corrections very rapidly. Agility is crucial." 

Shade started his career in environmental science, focusing on sustainable agriculture and a clean food supply chain.

Later on, he switched to environmental chemistry, obtaining a Ph.D. in the field and launching a natural health company based on applying natural medicine solutions and biochemical pathways.

"Then cannabis came along, and we learned how to integrate cannabis medicine into everything we were doing. We discovered what a massive tool cannabis was for moving natural medicine even farther forward." 

The Need For Legislation, Federal Legalization

While CBD is legal in the U.S. on a federal level, businesses are still facing many more challenges than in other industries.

For example, marketing restrictions force Quicksilver to sell its CBD products through a different website than its other products, and many customers don't have easy access to Quicksilver’s CBD products, Shade said. 

“The grey area that CBD lives in affects all of our business functions — banking, credit card processing, social media, QuickBooks, even shipping. These are all basic business functions where CBD companies are forced to figure out workarounds and get creative,” he said. 

These issues mean that businesses like Quicksilver may miss out on development opportunities and lose money as they work through logistical and financial barriers not faced by other industries. 

Shade estimates that Quicksilver loses out on $5 million in revenue each year due to these headwinds. 

Quicksilver is working on expanding its nano-emulsion technology into THC, which is legal in only a handful of states and remains federally prohibited.

The company recently started working with Wana Brands to develop a quick onset THC nanotechnology tincture.

Federal legalization of cannabis would provide Quicksilver with more opportunities like this, the CEO said. 

The silver lining is that the public has become much more open to CBD and recognizes his benefits, Shade said. 

“I travel extensively, and every time I’m on the plane, the person next to me — a grandma or a soccer mom — figures out what I do and asks me intently where they can get our products because they realize it offers hope for their condition. Now the only problem is selling it, banking, financing, shipping and marketing." 

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Photo courtesy of Quicksilver Scientific.