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Cody Callarman says his road to starting Carolina Dream often felt like a dream itself.
He grew up in the Lowcountry, but moved to San Diego when he was in the U.S. Marine Corps. But his mother’s back surgery in 2014 left her with partial paralysis and crippling pain that prescription meds couldn’t fix.
“I was always a good kid — never smoked weed or anything like that,” Callarman said. “But she found that cannabis worked better than any of the pills she had been taking. So I started buying stuff in legal states and flying it over, and she was done with all of her hard medications in six weeks.”
It wasn’t until the Covid-19 pandemic that Callarman began to reflect on his own job — which suddenly seemed much less secure than he first thought. “So I did what everyone else did and said, ‘I’m going to be a hemp farmer.’ ” Yep, what everyone else did, for sure.
He flew back home to Charleston County, where he became a licensed farmer and later, a leading veteran advocate for medical cannabis in the state.
“I don’t really know how that happened either, but they listened to me, so I went with it,” Callarman said. He’s also helped pen pieces of hemp legislation and regulation in the Statehouse and is one of the co-founders of the S.C. Healthy Alternatives Association.
‘A product guy’
Inspired by his mother’s journey and his own PTSD, Callarman founded Carolina Dream to create and distribute clean, honest CBD and THC gummies that bring comfort, ease and a touch of Southern charm to consumers.
What sets Carolina Dream apart from other local businesses (apart from being the only one to actually manufacture their gummies locally), is a unique blend of substances to create a specifically tailored experience for the consumer.Products combine CBD, CBG and THC from Callarman’s local hemp farms to generate a variety of products in a blend of flavors that serve individual functions.
Looking to get a good night’s sleep?
Try Dreamer.
Looking to relax after a stressful day? Look into Blends.
Wanting to have a good time by yourself or with friends? Uplift has you covered.
Most products also have a fast-acting option that you won’t find anywhere else, Callarman said.
“We are industry thought leaders and product innovators,” Callarman said. “We are really leading the charge on pushing the envelope of what the customers want without knowing it. To me, it isn’t hard. You just have to innovate and make it a little bit better. That’s what we do, and we’re finding great success with it.”
Last local producer
While several CBD, hemp and THC brands put “Charleston” in the name or iconography, they manufacture out of state. Carolina Dream, on the other hand, is positioned to manufacture, pack and fulfill every order in Charleston County. Callarman and Carolina Dream COO Tyler Murray pointed to the volatility with state officials in the last few years, saying other local businesses sought to “de-risk” their operations by moving out.
“Basically, when everyone else ran away scared, I stayed,” Callarman said. “South Carolina is always going to be the last to do anything, but with the laws that I help with and that I lobby with, I think in the future, we could see South Carolina as a hub for cannabis-like businesses, and I would love to see some of these local companies come back.”
He said he envisions cannabis products being completely decriminalized in South Carolina in the next three-to-five years.
“It’s encouraging to see a state as behind-the-times as South Carolina to be so forward-thinking and progressive with this small-business approach,” Murray said. “South Carolina is really setting the example of what a small government approach to a cash crop has been historically and should be going forward. It’s a positive return to a Jeffersonian approach to the industry.”
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“}]] Cody Callarman says his road to starting Carolina Dream often felt like a dream itself.He grew up in the Lowcountry, but moved to San Diego when he was in the U.S. Marine Corps. But his mother’s back surgery in 2014 left her with partial paralysis and crippling pain that prescription meds couldn’t fix. Read More
