Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key learns the ABCs of CBD

At the Feb. 4 Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key meeting, the gathered members got the ABCs of CBD from Lisa Baskfield, Nature's Gem CBD owner and next-door neighbor to Tyler's Ice Cream in the Centre Shops. 

Baskfield is the recent first-place winner of the Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce's "Rookie Business Person of the Year" award and the only licensed CBD reseller on Longboat Key. She's an avid proponent of using CBD, as research and practical application of the stuff helped her lower the levels of chronic pain she experiences with fibromyalgia. Now that she's put in hundreds of hours of research into CBD, who should use and what it should be used for, she wants to help spread her knowledge. 

Baskfield got the idea to open a store after she saw CBD gummies being passed out like candy. Having researched it herself, she knew that the product would be detrimental to those on blood thinning medication — much of the Key's population. She decided to fix the problem, starting her own brand with easily accessible lab results and transparency with her sources. A lot of other CBD products have other cannibinoids or even trace levels of THC, but Baskfield's is CBD-only. She still faces scrutiny from people who don't know the difference between types of hemp. 

"It's definitely still hard in an industry that is so saturated with crap," Baskfield said. "So we just keep educating." 

As part of continuing to educate, Baskfield has another speaking engagement with the Paradise Center on Feb. 24 at 11:15 a.m. It's only her second one after the Kiwanis meeting, but she's interested in giving more talks. Since the CBD industry is still unregulated, a lot of people are confused as to how it all works, and Baskfield knows it's not for everyone. 

"When you're dealing with this product line, people have a lot of great questions," Baskfield said. 

She opened her store in early 2020, quickly bringing in clients with a constantly open door and an eagerness to dole out her product to show its effectiveness. Cyclists and runners would stop in for quick balms for their aches and pains and find themselves staying just to chat. Once the pandemic hit and Baskfield closed her doors, her business went all online. It's been successful, but she misses the interaction. 

"Before COVID this was becoming sort of a hangout," Baskfield said. "I just wish for that to happen again."