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Accomplished CBD expert leaves Canopy for Charlotte’s Web

Published on March 10, 2023 by David Wylie

Photo: Instagram/charlotteswebcbd

One of Canopy Growth’s prominent scientific minds is now working for Charlotte’s Web.

The US company, known for its CBD formulation used to treat seizures in children, hired Marcel Bonn-Miller as its chief scientific officer.

It’s unclear if Bonn-Miller quit or was terminated by the struggling Canadian cannabis producer.

Canopy announced last month it would cut 60% of its workforce and close the iconic 1 Hershey Drive facility in Smiths Falls, Ont.

  RELATED: Canopy slashes workforce, plans closure of 1 Hershey Drive

Bonn-Miller, Ph.D., had been with Canopy for four years, primarily as the company’s vice-president of human and animal research. While with the company, he was part of a study into a clinical trial studying the effects of CBD on menstrual-related symptoms.

He has more than two decades of research experience in cannabis and cannabinoids and has published more than 150 research papers on cannabinoid science.

At Charlotte’s Web, Bonn-Miller will lead the company’s research and development portfolio, including new product development, pre-clinical and clinical research, scientific regulatory support, and alternative botanical wellness.

“The known and potential therapeutic effects of the hemp plant and its compounds are extraordinary,” says Bonn-Miller. “A natural therapeutic from such a complex plant requires exceptional consistency in genetics and cultivation.

“This is where Charlotte’s Web has uniquely excelled and provides an unprecedented opportunity to apply the significant knowledge accumulated over recent years in cannabinoid science.”

Charlotte’s Web completed its first international hemp harvest in 2021 in the Okanagan, growing its flagship “CW1AS1,” a US-patented cultivar that’s used in its full-spectrum “Original Formula.”

The company (and cultivar) is named after Charlotte Figi, who became known as “the girl who is changing medical marijuana laws.” At three months old, Charlotte began suffering seizures from Dravet Syndrome, a severe and difficult to control type of epilepsy that causes prolonged seizures. Charlotte’s Web was created to help ease her symptoms. After taking the cannabis oil, she suffered only a handful of seizures a month.

Figi died in 2020 at age 13.

Late last year, Charlotte’s Web inked a deal with Tilray to bring its full-spectrum hemp CBD products to Canada. The alliance includes licensing, manufacturing, quality, marketing and distribution of Charlotte’s Web CBD hemp extract products in Canada.

Currently, the products have been available only to Canadian families that qualified for a special access medical exemption through Health Canada.