Cannabis may be a billion-dollar industry, but it’s still got heart. After all, this industry has long been fueled by patients, and at the end of the day, the brands that have our hearts are the ones who put the people and communities they serve first.
As a cannabis patient myself, I want to highlight CBD brands out there who go above and beyond to help customers through compassionate care programs. These programs offer significant discounts on CBD products for patients who are disabled or have chronic illnesses.
Below you’ll find a list of brands that offer compassionate care programs along with a few of their best products geared toward medical patients. Check it out and revel in the generosity that’s at the heart of this industry.
Bluebird Botanicals Assistance Programs
One trusted name in CBD is Bluebird Botanicals. Bluebird offers a wide range of CBD products including tinctures, capsules, isolates, and topicals. They carry both broad-spectrum and isolate options.
Products are GMP and US Hemp Authority Certified, are glyphosate-free, and are grown using regenerative agriculture methods. You can also browse their site for full third-party lab test results by lot number, ensuring you always know exactly what’s going into your product.
Bluebird Botanicals’ assistance program has been around since 2015. It offers 20% off products for qualifying participants. Those who qualify include people with long-term disabilities, low income families, teachers, students, civil servants, and veterans.
“Our founder and CEO’s wife, Jessica Beatty, is responsible for the inspiration behind the assistance program. She had been working as a customer service representative and had frequent phone conversations with customers very much in need of CBD. She was so moved and often brought to tears by these customers’ emotional stories that she knew Bluebird needed to formalize an assistance program to help groups like veterans, low-income families, and those with long-term disabilities afford,” says Grace Kaucic, Senior Communications Manager at Bluebird.
The quality of the CBD you get from Bluebird is among the best I’ve found. I’m a big fan of their Concentrated Hemp Extracts as they deliver large doses of full-spectrum CBD in each dropper—25 mg per ml, to be exact. They also have a THC-free CBD oil that uses organic fractionated coconut oil (MCT) as the carrier oil. Two droppers of the full spectrum oil had me feeling pain-free and relaxed for the remainder of my day.
RopaNa Compassionate Care Program
RopaNa is a Vermont-based brand devoted to addressing the need for knowledge, quality, and transparency in the CBD industry. It’s a pretty fitting mission considering the term “Ropa Na” is Sanskrit for “to heal one’s self.”
The founders of RopaNa, Andrew and Rachael Switz, are committed to their customers’ health. Andrew holds a degree in Horticultural Sciences while Rachael has a certification from the American School of Clinical Pathology in Molecular Biology. These backgrounds inspired the two to produce CBD oils made from organic hemp extracted using organic ethanol. Full-spectrum and isolate products are available, with third-party lab results posted on the site for easy access.
RopaNa’s compassion care program offers a 35% discount to patients who suffer from chronic illnesses or disabilities. The compassion program is also extended to other groups like caretakers and non-profits.
I’m a huge fan of RopaNa’s Entourage Full Spectrum Nectar tincture. It not only uses organic, ethanol extracted hemp with MCT oil but also features other minor cannabinoids. The Nectar tincture, for instance, contains CBD as well as CBG, CBN, and CBC. It’s the most effective hemp tincture I’ve tried for both pain and alleviating a stressed, anxious mood.
Looking for something with no trace of THC? Opt for their Nectar CBD isolate tincture or for their CBD Goddess Rub topical cream.
Lazarus Naturals’ CBD Assistance Program
Based in Portland, OR, Lazarus Naturals is another brand committed to improving access to CBD for all. They were also one of the few brands I tested whose products were all consistent in terms of quality. Everything I tried here not only worked, but it worked well, including capsules which don’t normally do the trick for me.
Lazarus Naturals’ assistance program is one of the most generous out there, offering discounts between 40-60% depending on your needs. Those who qualify include customers on long-term disability, low income citizens, and veterans.
That being said, there are a lot of great products—both full spectrum and isolate options—to choose from. Lazarus has CBD tinctures, capsules, topicals, oils to cook with, and full-spectrum CBD RSO. My top picks here were the aforementioned CBD RSO and full spectrum CBD capsules (25 mg). The capsules are super easy to slip into a purse or pocket for on-the-go relief whenever you need it.
Zion Medicinals Compassionate Care Hemp Oil Program
Zion Medicinals was formed by Brian Caruso, a doctor of chiropractic medicine, and his wife, Jess, who suffers from Lyme disease. The two worked together to maximize the therapeutic properties of hemp, a struggle which inspired the creation of their hemp oil products.
Zion Medicinals relies on ethanol extraction instead of CO2. Zion also uses spagyric processing with their oils which, according to their website, is meant to reintroduce additional salts, minerals, oils, and acids.
The end result is a line of hemp oils that are full-spectrum and made from single-sourced Colorado organic hemp. They’re one of the few hemp oils I tested that was able to make a dent in my neuropathic pain.
Zion’s compassionate care program enrolls patients in a program which ships CBD to them on a regular monthly basis. Qualified patients who enroll are then eligible for 40% off their monthly shipment.
“This program is our way of paying it forward and helping those in the late stages of their life who want some relief naturally,” says Caruso.
cbdMD Disability Discount
The folks over at cbdMD also have their own discount available for customers with disabilities. Those who qualify are eligible to receive 40% off cbdMD products. cbdMD also offers a 30% discount for veterans.
You can find just about every CBD product type on the site, ranging from tinctures to gummies, bath bombs, topicals, and beyond.
My favorite cbdMD products are the CBD PM oil for sleep and the CBD freeze roller. The tincture is broad spectrum made from US, non-GMO grown hemp and has a certificate of analysis (CoA) available on the site. It also contains melatonin to help put you to sleep, and by god is it effective. I actually managed to sleep throughout the entire night without waking up once—a miracle for me. The roller was equally as effective: It began to spread and relieve tired, sore muscles almost immediately.
CanniMed Compassionate Pricing (Canada)
CanniMed is a Canadian medical cannabis producer that was recently purchased by Aurora. They have a wide range of medical cannabis products available including dried flower, vapes, capsules, and topicals. One of their most popular and beloved items is their 1:20 CanniMed CBD oil. Many patients use it for pain relief, anxiety, and focus.
The compassionate pricing program allows qualifying customers to receive a 25% price reduction on all medical cannabis products. Customers must be living on disability or must be receiving aid from government subsidy programs to qualify.
Tilray Compassionate Pricing (Canada)
Canadian monolith Tilray also provides a compassionate pricing program, which is centered around one product: Tilray 2:100 CBD oil. The oil itself is as medicinal as it gets; recent research shows that it’s proven to be effective for children with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) due to Dravet Syndrome.
Pediatric and palliative patients are eligible to receive a 25% discount on the 2:100 CBD Oil if they qualify. Tilray also has a compassionate pricing discount of 25% geared towards low income customers. It’s heartening to know even patients without insurance may still qualify for the program.
Editor’s note: Tilray and Leafly, now independent companies, were both previously owned by Privateer Holdings.
