Posted: Jul 22, 2020 / 06:18 AM EDT / Updated: Jul 22, 2020 / 06:18 AM EDT

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – New studies at Augusta University are showing CBD could provide relief for COVID-19 patients.

Now, an Aiken hemp farmer hopes her product will help as well.

CBD is made from a hemp plant, but before it gets placed in a bottle, it’s grown at Holland Hill Farm, LLC in Aiken.

Co-Founder of CBD store Upstate Alchemy, Sharon Peek, uses the hemp from Holland Hill Farm.

“It’s only been 80 years. 80 years ago this was on everybody’s shelves it was in everybody’s medicine cabinet,” says Peek.

Leaving a period of lost research, new studies on CBD relief couldn’t have come at a better time.

This is Holland Hill Farm owner, Ariel Ezekiel, second year in farming. She says when the hemp market crashed, she and her husband, Mark Ezekiel, an oncologist, knew they had to keep going. They were waiting for research to come out knowing the health benefits to hemp.

“We did not expect a global pandemic to be the first scientific data that came out,” says Ezekiel.

CBD has anti-inflammatory effects. Scientists are studying the processed plant hoping to relieve negative impacts on a coronavirus patients lungs.

From seed to shelf, it’s a delicate process.

For relative size, these plants grow as tall as humans. A hemp plant must be fully flowered before it heads to the processor.

Founder & CEO, Ascent Naturals, a hemp extractor, Martin Ford, says, “the definition of hemp is a cannabis plant with less than 0.3% THC in it. It is an all natural. You can’t overdose on it. It is a great alternative to the pharmaceuticals that are out there today.”

Upstate Alchemy has more than doubled its retail sales in the past month. CBD is selling quickly… And it’s not just for inflammatory issues.

“People seek ways to find calm and balance in their life, to manage some unexpected anxiety,” says Peek.

To stay safe and ease anxiety, it can even be purchased online.

As for where it all begins, Ezekiel says these studies can be a big step for the hemp industry.

“It’s huge. Charleston right now is a major hot spot and Aiken is just growing and growing as far as our numbers are concerned and it’s alarming,” says Ezekiel.

She says she’d be glad to offer her flowers for medical research.

The plant that’s grown right here on this farm is 60% sativa, 40% indica.

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