Founder’s Story
Over 10 years ago, Ardent founder Shanel Lindsay began to use cannabis medicinally as an alternative to pharmaceuticals to treat pain and inflammation caused by an ovarian cyst. The best therapy was one that could be applied topicially or ingested, which lead her to begin to process the cannabis in order to create oils, tinctures, and salves. Shanel quickly found that properly preparing cannabis for medicinal use was truly a scientific process. Over the next decade she continued to gain first-hand expertise with various methods of extracting, preparing, and applying cannabis compounds. Although she had become an expert over years of trial and error, she saw many patients frustrated by their inability to make effective medicine or their lack of time and resources required to attempt the process.
While it was discouraging to see patients who could have benefited from medical cannabis avoid it because it was too vague and difficult, it was heartbreaking to see a patient who had the courage to investigate and attempt it end up writing medical cannabis off because of a bad experience or underwhelming result. Even people who were experts when it came to recreational cannabis use were still unable to process the plant in a way that was simple and easy to access in any desired form. Shanel realized that this barrier and the uncertainty it creates is a burden for the medical cannabis movement and can undermine its progress. If it is nearly impossible for the professionals to get it right, what chance did a patient have, especially a first-timer? There was a valid fear that millions who could benefit from cannabis would not due to the lack of a simple and easy way to prepare sterile, accurate doses.
