“It got me back on my feet”: The story behind Cumbria’s first CBD company

After years of struggling with her mental health, Nic Hewitt stumbled across CBD by accident. The founder of a leading Cumbrian brand tells Cannabis Health how it has helped the whole family.

In December 2015, former probation officer, Nic Hewitt, then 30, felt like she had hit rock bottom. Just weeks after moving into a new home for a fresh start in Carlisle, it was devastated by the floods brought by Storm Desmond.

She lost her job and was forced to move back in with her parents in west Cumbria. The events triggered a depressive episode for Nic, who was diagnosed with bipolar and borderline personality disorder at the age of 15.

“My mum and dad were terrified,” she says now.

“I’d done everything that the mental health team and doctors had said, so my dad took the initiative eventually and phoned his friend who is a psychotherapist in America.”

The doctor suggested medical cannabis, but knowing it was still illegal in the UK her dad looked for the next best thing.

“My dad said he had found this thing called CBD – he didn’t realise what he had stumbled on,” says Nic, who with a criminal justice degree herself had begun to do her own research.

CBD was still relatively unknown in the UK, so taking a risk she bought some from a seller on Facebook.

“I thought, at this moment in time it can’t hurt,” she says.

“I did start to feel better. It was a gradual process but it got me back on my feet. In six weeks I’d gone from being homeless, with nothing, to having found a gap in the market.

“I wanted other people to feel as good as I did, and I’d looked for CBD and struggled to find it, so why not?”

Nic got in touch with her school friend of 20 years, Luke Woodend and proposed her idea to him.

“He’s seen the ups and downs I’ve had over the years, I thought if anyone is going to come in on this with me it’s Luke,” she says.

“We spent months researching before we did anything. I was like the test subject and then Luke tried it for his anxiety and found that it calmed him down and gave him a new sense of confidence in a way.”

In 2018 they launched Lakeland CBD and Cumbria’s first and most-trusted supplier.

Nic set up a business networking group, The Hemp Cooperatives, to support others in the ever-changing industry – which now has over 300 members in the UK – and she recently enrolled in a Masters degree in Business Administration.

“Neither of us had business experience, it was a lot of luck and research,” she says.

“I was a probation officer for seven years and a youth worker. I always thought I wanted to help people and I feel like by selling CBD I am helping people in a way that’s manageable for my mental health.”

“We’ve been overwhelmed by the acceptance and support from people,” she continues.

“As a company we’re not here to force products on people, we’re trying to educate and we are constantly trying to break down the barriers and stigma surrounding the use of cannabis.”

Even her family, now her biggest supporters, took a little bit of convincing at first.

“My mum is in constant pain as she broke her back, but it took her six months to try it – she thought just by looking at the bottle she would start hallucinating,” says Nic.

“Now we’re further down the line she can’t do without it.”

Nic’s auntie too, who suffers from fibromyalgia, has also found CBD to be life-changing for managing her pain.

“She had to give up work because she was in too much pain and five days out of seven she would be in bed,” says Nic.

“She has seen a huge improvement. It’s the little things, she can walk to the shop and take the dog for a walk now, things which she couldn’t do before.

“Now her worst days are what her best days used to be.”

Nic is clear that the company does not make medical claims and advises everyone to listen to the advice of their doctor and medical professionals.

However, she feels that taking regular CBD, while having the autonomy of running her own business and the support of friends and family, means she is finally in a good place with her own mental health.

“CBD hasn’t completely taken away my symptoms, it’ll always be there, but the ups and the downs are not quite as extreme. If I’m having a rubbish day it’s not the end of the world,” she says.

“I love going to work now and I’ve also got the freedom to support my own mental health.”

Find out more at Lakeland CBD