CannaVi Alternative Care was founded by Viridiana Edwards (Vee). Viridiana is a born and raised Texan. At 17, she joined the U.S. Army and left for South Carolina for basic training. A few years later, in 2009, she received orders to report to her new unit in Iowa and was set to deploy to Kandahar, Afghanistan. In June of 2015, Viridiana received a medical retirement from the U.S. Army after ten years of service due to her injuries while serving in Afghanistan from 2009-to 2010.

Viridiana sought treatment for her injuries with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Unfortunately, she was prescribed pharmaceutical medications that harmed her instead of helping her.  Since the Department of Veterans Affairs treatments were unsuccessful for Viridiana, she began treating her PTSD, chronic pain, neuropathic pain, and paralysis episodes with medical cannabis. Viridiana started making her own CBD sublingual drops and body oil. Viridiana's personal experience and evidence-based practices help her create personalized regimens for individuals seeking medical cannabis coaching.

 In 2019, Viridiana was accepted into the first class in the nation’s first Master of Science in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Viridiana has published two papers on medical cannabis and continues to research and advocate for national medical cannabis access for veterans.