CBD manufacturer launches 15,000-sq-foot extraction facility in Florida

A CBD maker and distributor in Florida has announced the opening of a new extraction facility in Tampa.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for Global Widget’s new 15,000-square-foot facility is scheduled for Oct. 9.

Co-CEO Kevin Collins said the new plant will help support community job growth and make CBD “more affordable and accessible to consumers who benefit from using it and to businesses who prosper from selling it.”

Global Widget, which makes and distributes hemp-derived CBD products for Hemp Bombs, Nature’s Script and Perfect Paws Hemp, said it has created nearly 200 managerial and manufacturing jobs at its three neighboring Tampa facilities. At its newest plant, CBD isolate and distillate will be extracted from hemp.

Chief Compliance Officer Margaret Richardson said the company is working with federal lawmakers and offering input to the Food and Drug Administration to help establish CBD as a legitimate, compliant industry that can benefit local businesses and boost state economies.

Global Widget is one of 13 CBD companies that are helping to fund a consumer research study on the effects of regular CBD use on humans. It has also been accused in a Massachusetts court of selling CBD with “either no amount of the challenged ingredients, or amounts too low to have any pharmacological effect.”