Longtime Army veteran Keith Parker knew that he needed to do something about his health but wasn’t sure where to turn next. It turns out, that his steps were ordered in the right direction. Not only did it change his health but gave him a new purpose.

“I had a lot of health issues,” he said to the PW Perspective during a recent interview at Black American Market in Potomac Mills. “I suffered from severe PTSD, and the military kept prescribing more medicine.”

“My body was breaking down, and I gained a lot of weight. In 2014, I was looking at a Dr. Sanjay Gupta series on cannabis. So, I went to a Mastermind Your Success class by Steve Harvey. It helped me to learn more about the industry.”

As he learned more about the cannabis industry and how it could help him both mentally and physically, he set out on a journey to understand how to grow it and create products with its many uses. It led to the creation of the Piedmont Hemp Company, which the Durham, North Carolina native and North Carolina A&T graduate is proud of.

“We are the first Black-owned hemp company in North Carolina. It started first when we got our land approved, and I went into a science of what it can do for my body. I’m taking ten fewer medications than I was before, and I found out that cannabis’ health benefits going back to the days of early Egypt.”

Knowing that there is a connotation with cannabis, Keith has set out to enhance how the plant is versatile in its use.

“When most people hear about cannabis, they always want to go to the THC side. There are 50,000 uses in that plant other than one molecule. There’s 400 compounds in there, THC is only one of them.”

So, what kind of products does Piedmont Hemp Company produce?

“Seven different products, such as hand sanitizer, and pain balm, using hemp seed oil. We found oils that only grow in Africa. In ancient Egypt, they cured inflammation and pain. We infuse it with hempseed oil.”

Maintaining a cultural awareness, he seeks to collaborate with Black farmers who have often been ignored.

“We have a Black honey seed oil. Our focus is to work primarily with Black-owned farmers.”

Already, he has seen improvement in his health and well-being since starting this endeavor. “These products were designed to get me off of synthetic medicines. I’ve lost 45 pounds and feel so much better.”

He goes on to talk about the mental benefits of the plant as well. “Cannabis has different therapeutic effects. There’s no ‘getting high,’ but it increases your mental awareness. It’s especially helpful when you’re tired around 2pm in the afternoon. It helps you to also relax and focus.”

Recently, they became a vendor at the newly created Black American Market, and he lauds how it has become more than just a store in a mall, it’s a representation of the Black community.

“There’s a special energy in here, that if you look at each of the vendors, we work together. We sell each other’s products, and work together as a collective, so everyone’s product has something special. My wife and I will even sell some of the shirts.”

He credits its owner Mariah Bailey, for making it possible for the community to collaborate. “She’s pulled together these entrepreneurs, and we make it work. We’re not going back to the same old storefront concept anymore; we want it made the way the ancestors made it. It’s our creativity that puts it all together, the way it should be.”

Being a Black-owned hemp company, he reflects on several barriers that he had to overcome.

“The barriers were significant. I started out by joining advocacy groups like Vote Hemp, and the Hemp Industry Association in North Carolina. I’ve spent time on Capitol Hill to determine the legislation that came out in 2018. Coming into this business as a new individual, and because the industry was attacked so much, I knew there was something special happening.”

He continues. “The rest of the barriers were the school of hard knocks. I was under investigation at one time when the US Postal Service sent some products through the mail, but I knew the farmland it was growing in. In order to grow hemp, you have to be licensed with the Department of Agriculture, and you have to be registered with the local sheriff’s department and the DEA. Therefore, when I bought hemp flowers, I knew what farm it came from. I brought the farmer’s license, lab study, and registration. I could buy the pounds I needed to send to the DEA approved lab. In 2019, the USPS changed their policy on hemp products in the mail.”

Those weren’t the only challenges he had to deal with.

“Our hemp fields in North Carolina were sabotaged twice, but I wouldn’t let it discourage me. Because I worked with advocacy groups, we were able to know the law and what the National Institute of Health publications stated about its health benefits.”

Another issue was being able to make transactions for the products, as in the past they were done mainly through foreign distributors.

“Other hemp companies were using foreign transactions in order to process it as a means of transporting. Now, we can use our own financing to process payments.”

Knowing that there were still negative connotations with the hemp industry, Parker got around that by forming another company. “I created Ubiquity LLC, and so what I did is use that to obtain a bank account. It allows us to do business as Piedmont Hemp Company.”

“One way or another, I’m going to figure it out, and make it work.”

As he has seen significant growth, there is one more hill that he wants to climb through the business: “It’s education. 99 percent of people only know about THC. Our challenge going forward is to let people know the truth. We’re looking at marketing teams to help us with the message. Being at the Black American Market, we can talk with people face to face, give them a better understanding. We’re bringing it to the open, so they can try our products and see what they do for the body.”

“We’ll also create videos on social media to let people discuss their experiences of using the cannabis.”

Recently, Keith was accepted to the Texas A&M University Entrepreneurship School. His plans are to take it global.

For more information on Piedmont Hemp Company, visit their website or on Twitter.