Rohit Kamath’s journey to his hemp venture started when his fiancé met with a life-threatening road accident and she had to be administered opioids to ease her pain. That fuelled him to look for better means to aid her healing.
As he deep-dived into research, he realised that there are so many patients in India today who are suffering from chronic ailments. Rohit recalls, “To be honest, the stats were deeply saddening and shocking and I wanted to help solve this mass crisis by offering a holistic approach to better well-being.” This led him to discover hemp or cannabis.
After months of researching this fine crop, Rohit and his co-founder Loveena Sirohi were intrigued by their findings. Organic Hemp – a zero-waste crop, can be used to make over 25,000+ different products that range from all the essentials of life – food, medicine, fibre, building material, paper, rope, personal care, and more.
He recalls, “We saw remarkable results but suffered due to poor accessibility and supply chain. We then realised a lot of patients are in desperate need of this potent medicine, which led us to start India Hemp Organics (IHO).”
India Hemp Organics is reimagining cannabis
IHO was born in January 2020 by Rohit and Loveena who believe in the power of holistic health and wellness – IHO was born out of a striking purpose of healing the lives of the people, enriching the farmer communities and exploring the medicinal cannabis market.
Rohits adds, “With IHO, our aim is to recreate and reimagine the way cannabis is consumed in India, and offer transformative experiences to consumers. Today, we have products in medical cannabis, hemp nutrition and in the personal care category.”
Of course, the recent UN reclassification of cannabis/hemp to tap its industrial/ medicinal potential helped. In 1961, the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs scheduled cannabis as a drug. India being a signatory to the UN was forced to implement this act. India fought long and hard for 24 years and finally succumbed to immense pressure and set up the NDPS act 1985, which prohibited cannabis and its cultivation.
Rohit explains, “Since cannabis is now reclassified in the UN with India voting in favour of it, we are hopeful that this will call for us to look inwards and amend our NDPS act to set up better policies for cannabis.”
IHO has developed a wide range of Ayurvedic proprietary medicines from Hemp seeds and leaves, to offer people a wholesome form of nutrition and a sustainable source of medicinal healing that’s holistic in nature. The hemp used is grown locally in India, the farm is 100% organic, and located amidst the mystic mountains of the Himalayas. Each batch of Hemp produced is hand-cultivated and carefully selected for the best quality and purity.
Organic Hemp is a versatile plant. There are about 25,000 uses of hemp. It has wide applications in several industries like textiles, paper industry, medicine, horticulture, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, construction, energy production, animal nutrition and bedding, etc. With respect to textiles, Organic Hemp is a highly sustainable plant, and one of the strongest natural fibres. It is very durable and utilises less than half the water of cotton with barely any pesticides and has its application in making clothes, bedsheets, shoes, etc.
Rohit says, “The potential of Industrial hemp in India is massive. Our neighbours in China currently dominate this space in the global hemp market. Unfortunately, India’s contribution to the global market is currently at less than 0.1%. We really envision a day where farmers are growing for industries, that are made in India for the world.”
The CannaBliss wellness range
As for its medicinal applications, cannabis and its medicinal uses are large. In fact, did you know that your body has an endocannabinoid system – ECS? Yes, an entire system in your body was discovered because of the cannabis plant. The ECS is mainly responsible for homeostasis or balance. Phyto-cannabinoids present in cannabis such as CBD, THC, CBG, etc have a very intricate relationship with our physiology and they interact with the various receptors present in our body.
Rohit points out, “There is an unfulfilled demand for patients in need of medical cannabis to fight several chronic symptoms like side-effects of chemotherapy, pain management, arthritis, insomnia, epilepsy, etc. Cannabis helps with all of these and provides a better solution than sub-alternative care.”
In a country that has 1 in every 5 people suffering from depression, and 1 in every 15 people dying of cancer, IHO works to bring a more sustainable and natural form of healing, when compared to allopathic medications.
With sustainable development being at the forefront of IHO’s business model, the company looks to incentivise our rural and farmer communities by preventing marginalising of the crop and assisting local farmers in cultivation by providing optimal resources.
From the hemp leaves, IHO formulates its medicinal range called ‘CannaBliss’ that comprises of full-spectrum cannabis leaf oils catering to various ailments such as neurological problems, pain management, insomnia, side-effects of chemotherapy, and promoting daily well-being of the mind and body.
The ‘CannaBliss’ wellness range comprises of the following oils:
- Pain Relief,
- Stress Buster
- Sleep Well and
- Balance
Besides this, IHO has a new and unique range of personal care and nutrition based products available here on https://www.indiahemporganics.com
Speaking about the government’s role in monitoring the market, Rohit opines, “Yes, we should definitely have better policies in place for regulating cannabis. The first step the government should do is set up an infrastructure that will help entities in researching and identifying the various chemotypes, genotypes, and phenotypes of cannabis in the country. This will help us in setting up the right commercial policies which are data-backed and better suited for India’s geography specifically. This will aid scientific literature around cannabis in the country and help combat all the various stigmas surrounding the plant.”
He also observes that the supply chain for cannabis in India is fragmented by states and their policies around it. “We need a much more cohesive and deeper supply chain to cater to the growing demand. There needs to be research done to frame better policies which will only support the growth of this industry,” he sums up.
