(written by Tommy Summers of Startland News KC) CBD STARTUP: YOUNG FATHER SEES NATIVE HEMP CO. AS THE LAUNCH OF A HEALTH REVOLUTION At 21 years old, Rich Dunfield IV felt like an absentee father, he said. Struck in his prime with painful ailments after a tick bite — nerve and belly problems, anxiety and depression — he was home but not present. “My entire life was rooted in fatherhood. I started young, but I embraced it. Lyme Disease was stripping that away from me,” said Dunfield, founder of Native Hemp Co., a product line he launched in August that is rooted in CBD, a cannabis compound known to relieve various forms of inflammation without the intoxicating effects of marijuana. Having left a college athletic career at Missouri State University to help support and be closer to his first daughter in 2013, Dunfield worked in the automotive industry before moving to real estate, flipping homes and managing properties, he said. But the impact of Lyme Disease eventually became crippling, he added. “I realized that without good health and without feeling like you, it’s really hard to reach your dreams,” Dunfield said. “There weren’t a lot of answers.” For three years, he chased treatments — beginning with traditional antibiotics, then turning to an organic, plant-based diet, he said. Dunfield hoped getting away from processed foods and a sedentary lifestyle would help, he said, describing his exploration of natural remedies. “We started stripping away my ailments and learning the power of nature to heal,” he said. “And then a year ago, CBD ended up finding me.” Fresh from the farm Dunfield was skeptical of the hemp-based solution, he said, but research and consultants he found through his journey kept circling back to CBD. “The first night I got a good source, I took the right amount. I fell asleep on the couch, and when my wife came down the stairs, I woke up. She looked at me, and I said, ‘Man, this is a new life,’” Dunfield recalled. “It’s hard to explain,
