Evan Wetzel Is Thriving: Cannabis for ADD/ADHD/Pain

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Before He Turned To Cannabis His Condition, Doctors, And Prescription Drugs Ruled His Life:

On the eve of the untimely death of Tom Petty, Evan Wetzel tells his story. One similar to so many I’ve had the privilege to publish. Much like myself, Even got caught up in the prescription drug trap that millions of us have been in or are in right this moment. We end up taking medications based on a doctor’s prescription and then believe that we should continue as it is what has ‘been ordered’. Health is what Cannabis orders, in a recent conversation with Evan he fully agreed with that. “Pharmaceuticals nearly destroyed my life” he shared with me. He shares an intense story of how Cannabis has set him free from a lifetime of labels and pills. Truly a miracle in itself, the plant has changed his life from frowns and sad days to happiness and life no longer challenged with the continual side effects of continual Rx drug intake. Evan, like so many others, proves the point that I personally just proved on my own. Cannabis, without a doubt, can replace prescription pain medication and so much more.

“My story is long! It started over 20 years ago as a nine-year-old with every learning disability that the doctors knew about from anger issues to socially awkwardness.

The school was horrible and scary and felt like every day was the first day. I survived by using humor as a crutch. It seemed like most found me to be funny, but it was from a dark place even at a young age. What does one do when the laughter stops?

I’ve never really fit in other than being a class clown. Never had a best friend, was always the sidekick.

In the early 90s after being diagnosed with ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia, and more, I was sent away to a school in Connecticut as my issues were too deep. Socially I thrived at this point, but my grades were failing.

I wanted to fit in. I was always the awkward kid from a distance who cared more about everyone else’s issues rather than my own. I never took care of myself.”

“I was there for 7 years and in the 7th grade, they told me that all my friends would graduate except for me that year. I clowned my and became popular but didn’t realize that at a school what I was doing wouldn’t matter much to new kids. I had a few options, but mostly I knew I had to crack down and work hard. I clowned for the year but I also focused really hard which is something that comes hard for me. I can read a full page or even a sentence and not understand one word.

I mix stuff up, I read the same lines 20 times while thinking I just read it once. I can’t read aloud. While at this school I learned about methods to get me through these issues. Sports helped with aggression, though the medications they had me on made my aggression worse. These pills they gave me stole my appetite, they made me angry, gave me headaches, hurt my stomach and I tried everything not to take them. There was no option back then for me to use cannabis in any way, not even a cannabis tincture or oil.”

“Throughout my whole life, I have had other medical issues. My teeth are the worst. My gums are too weak to hold my teeth and therefore I have metal bolts and multiple false teeth. Cannabis helps me with pain. When I was a little kid, a baby tooth became infused into my jaw bone and my adult tooth was pushing under it making my whole jaw be injured. It took 3 doctors over 2 days to remove the baby tooth so the adult one could come in. They operated on my gums and bones and had given me well over 100 shots of Novocain. It had a bad effect on me that lasted a while. Then I got braces and my mouth rejected them. Dental issues are painful, but Cannabis in many ways helps. By using Cannabis I’ve avoided addiction to pain medication.”

Evan loves to use Cannabis vape pens, they come in various strains

“Back then as a kid and most of my life, I just wanted to be alone. I hated boarding school. I didn’t like the way everyone treated each other. I came from a sheltered school where bullies didn’t exist and now I was being targeted by them. I reverted back to my humor but to most, I was just a goofy loser with issues. No one laughed and I felt as if had no place. The one thing I had was gone and I needed to learn to survive once again. I’ve always had a huge heart and care about others more than myself at times.

At my old school, I helped friends get what they needed. But once at the new one, I was alone. Four of my friends moved with me through school, I would watch them succeed as I failed. When I think back to this it’s depressing, but Cannabis has changed how I feel about myself. It’s given me hope, it stops my mind from racing with thoughts I shouldn’t have and don’t need.”

“6 years later, now 18 and about to graduate public high school. I didn’t thrive there either but it was such a big school I could blend in. My health got worse. Put my mental issues to the side at this point my stomach issue and ulcers began to get worse. I was stressing myself out to the point where I lost weight, couldn’t eat sleep and nobody knew what to do. Two weeks before college, Lynn University Boca Raton Florida, I was forced to remove my wisdom teeth.

Though I smoked cannabis in high school I knew nothing of its medical value. During the wisdom teeth surgery I was not tested for allergies nor did we know how strong the meds would be with my other medications. Long story short. My kidneys began to fail after an overdose. I spent two weeks in the hospital with two I.V drips in both arms and could hardly walk. When I finally got out they gave me a pill plan of 20 pills a day for a year and I would be better. That didn’t happen, I got worse.”

“I was sick and needed help, I had enough of the pharmaceuticals. I talked to friends and in doing so learned that a buddy from high school had moved to California to study medical cannabis and run a small 4 person farm in Santa Cruz. He needed a test dummy and I needed a new life. It was 2009. I could not have driven out there from New York fast enough. On the farm they took care of me, they showed me how to live a new life.

I had never been taken care of like that. With my kidney issues I always have back pain, the CBD tincture took that away in seconds. They showed me how to cultivate. They gave me a new diet and my stomach issues went from a level 8 pain with no ability to eat to a level 3 with a desire to eat. They helped me get in shape. They helped me clear my mind. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was actually wanted. They tested and tested me gave me a job in the dry barn to sort and identify flop buds. I was also a tester and wrote reviews for the website.”

“I worked so hard to get better and through oils and a healthy diet I am now a functioning human, still with pain and issues but at least I understand those issues. My passion is at the top. They saw that and got me a job at a dispensary. That’s where my life changed back to what I had as the popular funny kid. Personally popular no, but to go to work every day and have people tell you that you just changed their lives, that’s all I needed. People relied on me for once. I spent years studying the different forms of cannabis and have made most products. For me, I always preferred oils and tinctures. I got a job doing strain identification and worked directly with patients and their doctors to find the right strain and method to help many conditions.”

“After years of helping others get meds, I felt the need to come home to N.Y. to help legalize medical cannabis. I miss California. A lot of my old issues are back. Despite that, I stay possible and try to spread the word of what cannabis has done for me.”

“It’s a bridge to a gap. When my throat is swollen, and I can’t eat or drink, it’s cannabis that reduces the swelling and inflammation. When my buddy got in a car crash, it was cannabis that helped reduce the ocular pressure above his eye, cannabis saved his sight. When my cousin had cancer, it was cannabis that made treatments easier. When I had 3 new surgeries, it was cannabis that helped me through rehab. Cannabis helps blood flow and circulation. I can’t even take an Advil without feeling it go through my veins. It was cannabis that gave me hope. It was cannabis that helped my friend’s seizures when his medications were too strong. It was cannabis that stopped my depression. It was cannabis that helped me stop drinking and smoking cigarettes. Cannabis has given me nonjudgemental friends who understand me. I met my fiance through my work with cannabis. I have a life now because of the people in this industry and because of what this natural plant can do.”

Above photo: Mike's Medicine Strain by Tim Fratto — Above photo: Mike’s Medicine Strain by Tim Fratto

“I won’t bash doctors and say just switch to cannabis. Don’t do that. What I can say is it saved me. I’m one person, but it saved my life and has given me the responsibility to help save others. When people get home from work stressed out, most reach for alcohol. A drug itself causes more issues than it solves but for some reason the world allows it while condemning something that does the opposite. We have come so far and this negative stigma about cannabis needs to stop. We need to educate the world as cannabis is the safest drug on the market yet those that use it are potheads while those that go to the pharmacy once a week to get 20 pills for 3 issues are normal.”

“People die every day in car crashes and many are related to alcohol, yet a DWI doesn’t stop people from drinking and driving. Those guys get to drive again, while people like me who promote cannabis are treated like criminals and are overpopulating prisons that we the taxpayers have to pay for. I’d rather pay taxes to get sick people cannabis.”

“Thanks for the time, I have more but I’ll end here. In two years I plan to head back to Santa Cruz to work on the farm again. In 2010, my mentor won the emerald cup, my goal is to accomplish the same goal by 2020. I have more to learn and more to preach. Keep fighting for people like me. We love you for this fight and we pray that we win. One love cannabis is life!”

Evan told his story so well I felt no need to add that much. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Without a doubt, he’s a walking-talking cannabis victory!