I studied chemistry at Stellenbosch University. While doing my masters in analytical chemistry, my younger cousin would often come and visit me at the lab and jokingly ask, “Have you found the cure?”, referring to my project of researching the dog repellent factor from cuticular secretion of female yellow dog tick (finding the compound in the secretion of dog ticks that repels dogs enough to prevent them from biting or licking the parasites and thus getting rid of them).
At this time, I was approached by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals to stand in for someone who was on maternity leave for 6 months, to help with method development and validation in a research and development pharmaceutical laboratory. I ended up spending about 2 years on and off at Pfizer while completing my studies.
"I got good exposure with extracts and natural products"
Post my masters, I worked at Puris Natural Aroma Chemicals. The company specialises in extractions, mainly essential oils from botanicals, and our biggest product was Buchu. I got good exposure with extracts and natural products.
I moved on to Vital Health Foods, which was essentially testing of nutraceuticals and natural extracts in a pharmaceutical environment. There I was exposed to GMP standards, where I was lab manager of both the Research and Development and Quality Control laboratories and worked closely with the factory for five years.
Introduction to Cannabis
My next job was at Distell, where I joined the innovation department and focused more on product development and less on the analytical side of things. While at Distell, I had two shoulder operations and took some of the Cannabis oil that a friend gave my partner, Toni, for insomnia. Having been on the scene of natural medicines for most of my career, I had heard about the profound medicinal properties of Cannabis and I used the oil to see if it would help with the recovery of my shoulder. It did wonders!
My mind started working overtime and I thought with my background, I would be able to make a decent oil. I started experimenting with growing and extracting and making my own oils. It worked so well that I ended up making oil for friends and family.
Healing Chivas
In the meantime, my 10-year-old dog, Chivas, started having health problems. We noticed bladder issues where he would wake up in a pool of urine and drip-drip all along as we went for walks.
The vet was puzzled, as hormonal issues were more common in female dogs, but he treated Chivas with testosterone, which would work for about a month before having to be readministered. At the third treatment, the symptoms started recurring after about 2 weeks and the vet realised there had to be something pressing on the bladder. An ultrasound showed a tumorous growth on the lymph node next to his bladder. An operation would provide no guarantees and I didn’t want to subject Chivas to that at his age without knowing it would work.
My last hope was the Cannabis oil that I was already giving to friends and family. It was trial-and-error at first and I realised that the high-THC was not great for Chivas. I went back to the drawing board. There was very little information available back then, but I read that THC-A also had anti-cancer properties and would not be psychoactive. I started playing around with extracting and dosing – I had no clue what I was doing but after a month I had this one recipe that I followed and we saw an improvement. The month’s testosterone had run out, but his bladder issues didn’t return. We even saw a change in his behaviour as he was suddenly more energetic and happier and healthier altogether.
"Have you found the cure yet?"
Curiosity & Analytics
This healing process made me think – what am I giving this dog and how much of it is he getting, so that I can share this information and others can benefit? I started looking for a lab that could test my oil and I couldn’t find anyone at the time that was willing to work with Cannabis – this was before the constitutional court ruling decriminalising private use of Cannabis. So, after a lot of searching where I couldn’t find any second-hand instrumentation, I took the plunge and took money out of my bond to buy the most basic, simple gas chromatograph so that I could at least quantify what it was that I was giving him. I managed to get hold of some standards to help me quantify and I started testing the oils. For the first time I knew exactly what I was giving him.
"I couldn't find anyone at the time that was willing to work with Cannabis"
I realised there might be a gap in the market for this. Hundreds or even thousands of people make their own oils and extracts. Anyone can find out how to do it on YouTube. But not everyone can do the testing. I have the instrumentation, and I have the knowledge and the experience to do the testing, so I started marketing myself as someone who can test Cannabis. Then came the Con-Court ruling of 2018, and then came the 2019 Cape Town Cannabis Expo. I took my “The Qure” business cards, and just distributed it to anyone and everyone I thought would be interested in testing. One of the places that I left my details was at the CIDCWC stall.
A week or so later, Natie responded to one of the follow-up emails I had sent. We met over a cup of coffee in Stellenbosch, and he gave me a couple of buds to test. He must have been happy with the results because he invited me for a second meeting where he brought along Jean and Kris, and we decided right there that we were going to do this – we were going to start a lab!
Why Montagu?
Toni and I had been coming to Montagu for rock climbing for 15 years. Over a period of 9 or 10 years we were actively and passively looking at properties to buy for one day when our ship came in. During that time, the properties that we could afford weren’t nice enough, and the nice ones were beyond what we could afford. But then, we moved in together and I sold my house in Stellenbosch, and with some change after paying off all my debts, we bought a house in Montagu as an investment with the hope of one day moving here. So, I had the house and the dream, but we never moved to Montagu because we couldn’t really sustain ourselves there – we needed some form of income.
When we had that initial founding partners meeting in Stellenbosch and Jean asked if I would be willing to resign from Distell and work for Qure full time, I took my chance and said I would if I could do it in Montagu. The team was on board – most people would courier their samples anyway and whether you send it to Stellenbosch or to Montagu makes no difference.
Within 3 months, I resigned, moved, and we opened the doors to the laboratory in Montagu.
Welcome to Qure!
Update 1 September 2022:
At almost 15 years old, Chivas died this weekend. I am very thankful for the impact he has had on our lives. His body has left us, but his legacy will live on.💚
