Steve Scott is the owner of Craft Hemp Company. After leaving corporate America, he has earned several certifications related to cannabis. Steve Scott, owner of Craft Hemp Company in downtown Midland, is a cancer survivor.
He used cannabis to offset chemotherapy over 14 years ago. “That interested me in how this plant could help,” says Scott.
About half of Americans have tried an alternative medicine at some point in their lives. One-fifth of Americans have sought alternatives in place of conventional medicine.
Scott has seen success with using CBD products to treat his pitbull lab, Mawka, under the supervision of a veterinarian. Mawka had torn both her ACLs. Because of her high anxiety, Scott was investigating non-surgical treatments. She was nearly back to normal within a few months, and four years later, Mawka is still doing well.
“After that, seeing what CBD did, I decided I really wanted to become an expert in cannabis,” says Scott. That included treating ailments with cannabis products.
What’s the difference between marijuana, hemp and CBD?
Marijuana and hemp are the same species of plant. The only difference is the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content — the psychoactive compound that gets you high.
Hemp is a cannabis plant that has less than 0.3% THC and will not cause a high. Marijuana is a cannabis plant with a THC content of at least 5%. The average marijuana plant contains 12% THC.
CBD, or cannabidiol, is found in all cannabis plants.
“It’s like taking a cake and saying, ‘what’s in the cake?’ Eggs, milk, chocolate — there’s different things and each of those things do different stuff,” says Blake Klumpp, field manager of Ag Marvels, a hemp processor in Shepherd, and one of Craft Hemp’s primary suppliers.
Craft Hemp Company puts education first
Scott’s company mission is education first. His motto is “get healthy, not high.”
“I thought Midland, seeing as they opted out of medical marijuana, I think this would be a great fit for them,” says Scott. “I think they have the crowd that would benefit from the products, but the education is key on it. … We have all these places that have [CBD], but people were just randomly picking products and [they] also didn’t know what the quality of the product was.”
Scott says his biggest barrier is letting people know that this is not a scary store. He’s happy to welcome anyone in and answer any questions people may have.
Scott has worked to establish relationships with physicians in Midland to become a trusted resource for them and their patients. CBD has been used to treat insomnia, anxiety, pain, and more. It’s even been used to boost energy.
“Luckily we have some pretty cool family physicians here in Midland that are all about getting their patients off pills, and they will recommend CBD. But they will tell you, ‘make sure you go to the right place.’”
His wife, Candice Colby-Scott, is a physician. Not only does she pass along interested patients, but she also helps Steve with his science questions. “I might absorb [knowledge] by osmosis, but I’m not a doctor and I tell people that,” says Scott. Scott has earned certifications from Cannabis Training University about the endocannabinoid system and the range of hemp products.
“I want to know everything about it. I’m always trying to find something new [and] read up on stuff to sharpen my sword, as you would say,” he says.
Craft Hemp Company is located in downtown Midland on Main Street, across from the H Hotel. Scott moved to downtown in Nov. 2020 from the Ashman Circle.Scott has been involved professionally in the cannabis industry for over five years. Before, he was a businessman in corporate America. After the birth of his third child, he moved from Detroit to Midland.
“I decided that team ‘No Sleep’ and trying to be the top person within a company was not going hand in hand,” says Scott.
He saw a building for rent in the Ashman Circle, and 20 days later, he opened Craft Hemp Company. Unfortunately, his location had low visibility. So last November, Scott was able to move downtown on Main Street, across from the H Hotel.
“I’m really excited about moving downtown. Now I have a tincture bar, and what we can do is — when you have your ailment, whatever it is you talk about — I can mix for you right here, whatever tincs you want.” A tincture, or tinc, is an alcohol-based cannabis extract. It’s similar to how vanilla extract is consumed. He has over 40 flavors that can be added to the mixtures.
Scott does consultations with customers before mixing tinctures for them. For instance, he asks about what brought them in and what medications they’re currently taking. Some medications should not be taken concurrently with CBD. Then, he goes over the dosages and schedules for when to take them.
“When people can see their oils getting mixed up for them and we can have that dialogue going that they’re understanding, and I send them out with a worksheet,” says Scott. “I don’t want people picking up a product for whatever ailment, and it just doesn’t work and then they lose faith in it, when they could have been right-fitted on the right product with the right dosage with the right schedule — that’s what we work [out] with people first.”
Scott creates custom tinctures for his clients depending on their current situation and needs. Each cannabis isolate is used to treat different ailments.Before moving downtown, Scott was outsourcing the tinctures. Because he’s doing them in-house, he’s been able to bring his prices down.
Besides oils, Craft Hemp Company also carries a range of hemp products such as gummies and smokable hemp flowers (“Midland’s new big glass of wine”). He also has an online store.
Scott only sells legal hemp products — no marijuana. All hemp is sourced from growers and processors in Shepherd, Ag Marvels and Mid Michigan Hemp Supply.
“My biggest challenge is to let people know that we’re not a scary store,” says Scott. “ … The biggest thing is to let people know that we are here to educate people. And that’s our main focus, is to give people quality of life.”
Shepherd’s “Agricultural Marvel”
In Shepherd, the largest hemp processing plant in Michigan sits quietly. Michael Klumpp has farmed for 25 years, purchasing approximately 3,000 acres of land from his grandfather. He started out with corn and soy. In 2019, he joined the hemp industry and founded Ag Marvels, now growing about 300 acres of hemp.
Blake Klumpp is the field manager for Ag Marvels.Blake Klumpp, field manager at Ag Marvels and son of Michael, is very active with the company.
“I deal with people all over the [world] right now,” says Blake Klumpp. Klumpp deals with Greece, Switzerland, Australia, Thailand, Japan, Canada, several countries in Latin America and South America. Most of their international business deals with selling seeds. In the United States, Ag Marvels has operations in Texas and Oklahoma, and soon in Virginia.
The Klumpp’s are involved in many aspects of the hemp industry from seed to sales. That includes owning two retail hemp brands, Heirloom Grove and Funny Farms.Ag Marvels made it a point to be involved in all aspects of the hemp industry. They not only sell seeds and starters to farmers and businesses, but they also process the crops and sell farm equipment.
“It’s a brand new market and you’ve got to be one of the biggest players there to stay and make it, and that’s kind of where it’s getting to,” says Klumpp. “It’s a crazy market to stay on top of, … but we’re willing to make it work and we have made it work, thankfully. I think a lot of that too is [because] we’re expanded over the broad spectrum of things.”
Their family owns retail brands for hemp products, too. Jaime Klumpp owns Heirloom Grove, a CBD bath, body and wellness brand, and Michael Klumpp owns Funny Farms, a cannabis gummy company. Some of their products can be found at Craft Hemp Company.
So what’s it mean to be a processor?
This screw press is the first step in processing hemp, used to break down the harvested hemp crop. It can process approximately 1,000 lbs of hemp biomass into crude in a day.
Hemp is a versatile plant. The flowering portion of the plant is smokable, but it needs to be dried. CBD oil and other isolates are generally derived from the flower as well. The fibrous portion of the cannabis plant can be used to make textiles or even building materials like plastic. Cannabis grain can be used as cattle feed and other products. To craft these unique products, the plant needs to be processed.
First, the plant is broken down into a crude product — a viscous, amber liquid. Next, it gets distilled. This is used to create approximately 80% of hemp products. If desired, that distilled product can be further processed into a powder, called an isolate.
Ag Marvels employs a team of chemists that isolate CBD from the hemp plants. They also work to discover new cannabis isolates.
Given their success, Ag Marvels is working to build a certified organic, GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) lab in Shepherd.
Disclaimer: Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition and treatment. Communicate with your medical professional about their concerns and to work together towards good health.