MARSHFIELD (WAOW)- For the first time a Hemp Expo was held in central Wisconsin, according to organizers.
Organizers said there was so much interest in the expo that they had to move it to a bigger location.
Thousands walked through the Marshfield Mall on Saturday for the event.
Oil, lip balms, gummies and even coffee were on display for anyone to purchase at the Hemp Expo.
Except these every day products have something extra called hemp.
The hemp plant has very little THC, the chemical in marijuana that makes people high.
Some users at the expo said the use of hemp has transformed their lives.
“I have a life now I was suicidal for years where I just wanted to kill myself and most people that had what I had would want to kill them self within 10 years,” said David Campbell a disabled combat veteran from Worcester,WI.
Campbell said doctors had put him on 17 different opioids.
“It got to the point where my body wasn’t handling them very well it was developing allergies to it,” said Campbell.”I was on them for so long that the opioids started destroying my body.”
Around this time Campbell said his wife started looking desperately for other alternatives, when she came across CBD oil.
“I walked with a cane and a walker at the time and I ditched my cane after that I haven’t used one since and it’s been three years,” said Campbell.”It’s the best pain reliever I ever had and the only thing that has ever worked for me.”
One vendor from Illinois makes it her mission to help clients with the use of hemp and CBD products.
“Our clients come in because they need help and not only that they want to change their life style whatever that is not only nutrition or diagnostic and we are there to help them in any way that we can,” said Marjan Mendelsohn the Owner of Hemp For Fitness based in Illinois.
Getting back to hemp farming in the badger state came with months of confusion and controversy because of the THC.
Lawmakers finally cleared it up this summer allowing products up to 0.3% THC legal to sell.
