It was 2012. Laura Baldwin Fuentes had been working as a licensed compound pharmacist for 20 years when a dear family friend confided in her that he was wrestling with an addiction to prescription opiates. Arby Barroso, like millions of Americans and hundreds of Laura’s own customers, had filled a post-surgery prescription and unintentionally slid down a path that now seemed impossible to leave.

Arby was an expert on hemp but he needed Laura’s help to turn his optimism into pure products. She began formulating products after work and on weekends.

When the pair saw CBD’s power to enhance Arby’s well-being, they became determined to bring its potential to more people. It became a personal mission. Laura left the stability of her career behind and they jumped into the uncharted waters of the CBD business. At the time, CBD was not the booming industry it is today. It was fraught with intense FDA and DEA scrutiny, banks who wouldn’t take their business, shippers who wouldn’t touch the product, and other challenges few other entrepreneurs have to face.

They persisted, spending their early days formulating products to help their own friends and family live their healthiest lives. The response was incredible. Danny Perdeck and Jimmy Tundidor joined as co-founders, and the business grew rapidly.

Through it all, Laura and Arby’s dedication to their customers has not wavered. Green Roads has long set the gold standard for quality control and consumer transparency in the CBD industry, and was one of the earliest advocates for full-panel, independent lab testing on every product batch.

Today, the popularity of CBD is growing, and Laura isn’t worried about the DEA knocking on her door anymore. But despite these advances, she and the entire team at Green Roads still feel that there is tremendous work to be done. Our mission, begun at a kitchen table many years ago, is to help every person find the healthiest version of themselves through the power of plants. We feel very fortunate that Green Roads is on a path to do just that.