CBD Oil Scammers strike again | As a qualified Naturopathic Practitioner and Herbalist, I have for a number of years now made many of my own natural remedies. Those that I have been unable to make, I have tried to source from ethical suppliers, but this is always a tricky thing to do. One of the most precarious products to source it good quality CBD oil.
Oils derived from Cannabis plants containing CBD and THC, have been proven to have highly therapeutic healing properties. Cannabis for medical use works as a power button (THC) and a dimmer switch (CBD) with all of the other chemicals providing everything in between. The novel ENDOCANNABINOID SYSTEM in our bodies that regulates all of the other systems, works the same. The people of the world have been taught to fear the power button because too much can be a bad thing and that’s true, but they don’t know about the dimmer switch or that the system itself IS the dimmer switch for our health, and dimmer switches need power or they don’t work. But there is a plant that provides both. If the immune system is overactive this is the best way to turn it down. This is the biggest medical discovery ever made, and yet, it beggars belief that cannabis is still illegal in some parts of the world, although, that is changing and fast.
The explosion in the popularity of cannabis derived oils containing CBD and THC, has opened the way for many people to jump on the bandwagon, however, there has been as serious lapse in quality control of this product, with many sub standard brands on the market.
As the Creative / Content Director of Conscious Consumer Network, we are obligated to speak out when we come across Snake Oil Sales men or women, particularly those who are scamming sick, vulnerable and desperate people. Many may remember my expose on Dean Oliver and his brand of CBD products called Sacred Kana, which I first published back in April 2019, which pretty much saw Mr Oliver abandon the selling of his now exposed dodgy CBD oil sales operation… But he was not the only one in on this highly profitable game. Now once again, I am faced with having to expose yet another dodgy brand of CBD Oil, this time a brand called PH PRO, based out of Slovenia.
I had for some time been hesitant about purchasing cannabis oils of any kind, as it is almost impossible to tell what percentage of the active ingredients are present in these oils, without having them tested at a proper testing facility, which can be costly.
What prompted me to fall into the trap of purchasing yet another brand of CBD, was the fact that one of my precious kittens has dermatitis, and is in much discomfort. Upon seeing an advert which came across one of the community pages on Facebook that I administer, I decided to contact the Portugal CBD distributor called Elaine Archer, who dropped a bottle off the next day.
Elaine Archer operating under the title of PORTUGAL CBD, was selling a brand called POOR DOG CHARLIE, made by PH PRO, which is a subsidiary of PHARMAHEMP, which came in three flavours, being peanut, salmon and bacon. Elaine Archer ensured me that this brand was suitable for cats, and thus, I ordered a bottle with the very last spending money for the month of January, as my cats are my life, and I want them to be well and to heal. Nothing in my life has a greater priority than the wellbeing of my kitty babies, which are my children. I asked Elaine Archer at the time to send me the test certificates in order to see the CBD content before ordering, but she did not send them, rather she was very pushy about coming over the next day to sell me the bottle of oil, and indeed, I ended up with the bottle of oil without having received the requested test certificates.
Nonetheless, I began twice daily administrations of the pet care oils, which came in a 10 ml bottle with a dropper. I squirted it directly into my cats mouth rather than mixing it with food, to ensure she was getting the exact dosages.
POOR DOG CHARLIE premium hemp pet care, claims on the label to have a 2% CBD content, which is mixed with a MCT base oil, which is derived from coconut. After several weeks of usage, the bottle was empty, and there was absolutely no improvement to the condition of my precious kitty’s dermatitis. I was more than prepared to purchase a second bottle of oil just to see if prolonged usage would perhaps result in some sort of positive effect, but I was not going to purchase the second bottle of oil without seeing the test certificates. And thus, I messaged Elaine Archer and requested that she send over the test certificates in order that I could see exactly what was in these oils.
TEST CERTIFICATES
Below is an online review of Pharma Hemp, which owns PH PRO, the company that manufactures the brand that I purchased
https://kamadevayoga.com/pharma-hemp-review/?fbclid=IwAR39HngUB1hcpxfkXK42oEtm5Uuzt9IlUJe7hpFOsvSkBMIKbOUyxTi_T-8
What really surprised me was that no where on the test certificate did it indicate the percentage of CBD content. In fact it had been left off the test certificate all together. Their was an indication of 0.2% THC content, but absolutely no CBD content mentioned at all, despite the label of the bottle stating that it had a 2% CBD content.
From the previous exposes I have done about dodgy CBD suppliers, I learned from the research I conducted with the assistance of the Cannabis Trade Association based in Amsterdam, that each batch needs to have its own test certificate, and that the number of the batch should appear on the test certificate, and that number should correspond with the number on the bottle of CBD oil.
When I went looking for the batch number on the test certificate, there was none. Furthermore, when I went looking for the batch number on the vile of POOR DOG CHARLIE I had purchased, there was no batch number there either. But to make matters even worse, there was no expiry / Best Before date on the bottle.
Without a BATCH NUMBER and expiry / BEST BEFORE date printed on the bottle, this product fails to meet the European Union Consumer Protection Regulations that are set by the EU Consumer Protection Cooperation Network.
When I pointed this out to Elaine Archer, she insisted that I was stupid, even telling me to “look closer” as if I did not know what I was talking about, and so I sent her a picture of the bottle of oil that she had sold me to show her that this bottle did NOT have a BATCH NUMBER and it did not have an expiry / BEST BEFORE date printed on the bottle.
Elaine Archer then accused me of washing the BATCH NUMBER and the expiry / BEST BEFORE date off the bottle. I suppose I also washed the BATCH NUMBER off of the digital copy of the test certificate she sent me, as this vital information is missing from there too.
Elaine Archer then offered to come and pick up the bottle from me, at which point I asked her for a refund, which she refused to do, and so I told her that I would then keep the remaining small quantity of oil and have it independently tested via my connections that I have used when I was doing my previous investigation and exposes of dodgy CBD oil suppliers. Elaine Archer then insisted that she did not want me to keep any of the remaining oil, even though I had paid for it. Elaine Archer instead insisted that she would have the oil tested here in Portugal. The problem is that there is no testing facility in Portugal, a fact I am very well aware of, having previously tried to find one myself. The closest testing facility is at Valencia University in Spain. I told Elaine Archer that since I had paid for the product, I would keep what was left and that I would have it independently tested, and that she could come and collect the bottle and take up the various before mentioned discrepancies with her supplier PH PRO.
Elaine Archer became very nervous when I mentioned that I was going to have the oils independently tested, and she then changed her tune and offered to give me a full refund when she came to collect the bottle, with the condition that I leave all the remaining oil inside. I reluctantly agreed to this course of action and attempted to end the conversation, but Elaine Archer was adamant that she wanted to push liability onto me making further comments to the effect of:
“Do not wash the bottle as they will know. It is going back, have no doubts. If I see it has been tampered with then sorry”, to which I responded
“Your desperation to push the liability onto me is absolutely disgraceful. I do not need to wash it. There is NO best before date and NO batch number. Your insinuation is making you look very suspicious indeed.”
At this point, I had had enough. Not only was there no improvement in my cat’s dermatitis, there was no CBD content listed on the test certificates. Furthermore, there was no BATCH NUMBER on the test certificate. There was no BATCH NUMBER and no expiry / BEST BEFORE date on the bottle I had purchased… And it was being insinuated that I had somehow removed the information on the bottles in an attempt to obtain a refund.
My final message to Elaine Archer was as follows:
“For someone who has nothing to hide you sure are defensive. Not even an apology…. Shame on you. Don’t worry, you will get your bottle back tomorrow, unwashed and in pristine condition. Your insinuation that I somehow would remove the the details on the bottle has motivated me to get it tested and that is what I am now going to do. I now no longer care about the money. I will expose you for the scamming fraud that you are. I simply cannot abide by people scamming sick people and animals… sorry, that is the lowest of low.”
Message to Elaine Archer: Maybe you should just admit that you are dealing with a dodgy company, as their product does not work, and they have failed to provide you with adequate information on the test certificates and on the product themselves. I am amazed that you would even send me a test certificate without the appropriate information on it, possibly because you had not done your due diligence in examining the paperwork for yourself. Based on this, I would also suggest that you are not competent enough to be selling alternative medicines, when you are clearly negligent in following through with your responsibility as a distributor of live saving medicine, which would include ensuring all the regulatory matters are in place, such as accurately labelled bottles and corresponding certificates. As CBD is used to treat terminal illnesses such as cancer, it is important that such sufferers have access to accurate information, so that they can make accurate decisions about the medicines that they are putting into their bodies. Playing Russian Roulette with people’s health is highly unethical.
We will be testing the CBD oil that we have been sold, as at this stage, we don’t even know if we can call it CBD oil, as there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that it contains any CBD at all.
PART II
I wrote to Pharma Hemp in an attempt to get answers directly from them, and I copied Elaine Archer in on this correspondence.
Dear Sonja
Sonja.Kristan@phpro.net
I recently purchased a bottle of POOR DOG CHARLIE in bacon flavour, from a distributor here in Portugal called Elaine Archer
Despite very promising marketing material posted on Facebook by Elaine Archer, I have not had any results from this vile of Premium Home Pet Care drops.
As a qualified Naturopathic Practitioner and Herbalist, I have had great results with my own CBD oils that I have made in the past, which contain only 1% CBD content.
Due to the disappointing results of this product, I asked Elaine Archer to provide me with the test certificates for this product.
The documentation that I was sent stated that the oils contained 0.2% THC, but there was absolutely no mention of the CBD content anywhere on the test certificates, whilst thhe label on the bottle says that this product contains 2% CBD oil,
The label on the bottle also fails to state the BEST BEFORE date, and it also neglects to state the BATCH NUMBER, and thus, it would be impossible, even with the correct documentation, to assess which batch corresponds with which test certificates.
Without a BATCH NUMBER and BEST BEFORE DATE, your product fails to meet the European Union Consumer Protection Regulations that are set by the EU Consumer Protection Cooperation Network.
I am hereby requesting that you send me the required documentation of your testing for this product as soon as possible.
Kindest Regards
Mel Ve
www.melve.life
Elaine Archer also wrote to Pharma Hemp and got the following response:
Hi Elaine,
Hemp extract in the product is source of CBD. CBD is not listed separately, since there is no pure CBD added, only the one from hemp extract. Please note we do QC check for cannabinoids on every produced batch according to our GMP system prior to releasing the products. Please see applicable CoA attached. Every bottle is equipped with a label with all required info, including batch number and best before date, which are printed during production process on site. I hope we have helped you.
Best regards.
Tjaša Erman
I got the following response from Pharma Hemp to my letter:
“Dear Mel,
Thank you for your email.
If we were infomed correctly, our customer Elaine already provided you the
certificate of analysis for the product. Please be informed, that every bottle is equipped with a label with all
required info, including batch number and best before date, which is printed
during the production process on site.
We have no idea how it is possible for a product to lack batch number and
best before. It has never happened before.
Additionally, each batch of products is tested in accredited Pharmahemp
laboratory prior to release.
https://pharma-lab.eu/#services
Scope of accreditation is given in the Annex to the accreditation
certificate and in the List of accredited methods:
https://pharma-lab.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/LP117_22_10_2020.pdf
In case of any doubts regarding potency of our product, please feel free to
send it to a 3rd party accredited laboratory.
Don’t hesitate to contact me in case of any further quieries.
Best regards,
Tjaša Erman
Office & Warehouse Administrator”
Having read both letters, I noticed that there was some discrepancy which I raised with Elaine Archer, which I addressed on Facebook messenger with the following response:
“I simply do not believe their response as my bottle was unmarked with batch number. The comment “Hemp extract in the product is source of CBD. CBD is not listed separately, since there is no pure CBD added, only the one from hemp extract” is a brush off attempt. You can still measure CBD percentage from whole hemp extract. I never used additives and I was able to test my products for CBD percentage.”
I then wrote back to Pharma Hemp with the following email:
“Dear Tjaša Erman
Thank you for responding to my email.
Regarding your comment:
“We have no idea how it is possible for a product to lack batch number and best before.
It has never happened before.”
Well it did happen and I am sure I am not the only one, but I am much more savvy than most people in this area of natural medicine, being a Naturopathic Practitioner and Herbalist, and thus, I know what to look for and the science behind it, hence why I flagged it up. Most people would not even notice if the batch number or expiry date was missing.
As I am sure you are well aware, the lack of batch number and expiry date means that the product fails to meet the European Union Consumer Protection Regulations that are set by the EU Consumer Protection Cooperation Network.
Furthermore, according to the email you sent to Elaine Archer, you claim the following email:
“Hemp extract in the product is source of CBD. CBD is not listed separately, since there is no pure CBD added, only the one from hemp extract”
This statement clearly indicates to me that
!. You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about and you are making really bad excuses hoping that Elaine and / or myself, are stupid enough to fall for such false explanation. I have extensive knowledge on the manufacturing of CBD oils, having in the past made and tested my own products, which never had any additives, and always the test certificates contained the CBD content, and thus, your explanation is a complete lie.
2. You have now created a fake test certificate, which was given to me by Elaine Archer, to indicate that your product has 2% as advertised on the label, when in fact you do not actually know what percentage CBD is in the oil, because according to your own words, there is no pure CBD added.
According to your email message, you are the Office & Warehouse Administrator, so I guess it is your job to tell me what ever your company requires in order to protect them. You have to say what ever you are told, without per se actually knowing the facts, because as clearly indicated from your communication, you do not really know what is going on, as you do not actually make the product, you do not source the material and you are not involved in the labelling process, and thus you really do not know for sure anything that you have claimed in the response email you have sent me. You have contradicted yourself completely from one communication to the next.
Furthermore, were your company ethical, the correct response from your company should have been an apology, and an offer to replace the mislabelled product that I have been sold by your distributor, with one that you have correctly labelled, with at least 2% CBD content, and with the accompanying corresponding test certificates. Based upon your response to Elaine Archer, and to myself, I have ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE to indicate that you are operating ethically.
Making poor excuses for such profound negligence is not good enough when you are selling products that are meant for sick, suffering or dying people and animals.
I have now sent in a sample of your product for independent testing facility, and I will let you have the results once we receive them. I will be sending you the bill for these independent tests, which I have no been forced to conduct as a result of your apparent false information, negligence and ill practice.
Kindest Regards
Mel Ve
www.melve.life
I sent this email to Elaine Archer in full transparency so that she could see the discrepancy in the communications, and how I was exploring it with Pharma Hemp.
Elaine Archer then sent me the following rather shocking vile message via Facebook Messenger:
“Oi vermin, im bored of your bollocks now, so stick your naturopathic crap and all your retarded date shit as far up your ass as as you can before your pervert husband gets a stiffy and has to go whack off infront of the kids club, again..now fuck off… ?”
To which I responded:
“Oh wow… Elaine, That comment about my husband wacking off in front of a kids club… where the hell did that come from? That is total slander. That has never happened. My husband has had erectile disfunction for the last 5 years (actually since 2014) following on from a injury, hence why we do not have children. That is seriously cruel and hateful. That is serious slander. The fact that you even send such a message containing such perverted lies, only indicates your intention to bully me into backing off. I will now be taking this to the GNR, as you have now gone too far. Furthermore, I am not the one in question here. I purchased a product from you, which did not have the expiry date or batch number. The certificate you gave me did not have the percentage CBD that was advertised on the label. As a Conscious Consumer, I have the right to question these matters. So far I have not had a satisfactory response from you or your supplier. My credibility in this matter is not in question. The fact that you try to accuse me of washing the expiry dates and batch number off the bottle is just ludicris, followed by crazy provably false allegations about my husband. Seems I am the one who gave you too much credit by trusting you and purchasing from you to begin with. Your behaviour and allegations towards me and my husband only makes you look guilty as hell.”
THIS IS THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF MELVE.LIFE
