How 6 Broken Bones Turned a Cannabis Skeptic into an Advocate

Marc drove home from work down a familiar stretch of New Brunswick road. It was getting dark, and he didn’t know it then, but his life was about to take an unexpected turn.

When the oncoming driver crossed into his lane, Marc had time no to process what was happening. His automatic reflexes took over, and he pushed his right foot hard into the brake pedal.

A common injury in head-on collisions is a broken foot, ankle, or leg caused by the impact of the brake pedal being pushed back towards the driver. And that’s exactly what happened to Marc.

He broke six bones in his foot.

It seems fortunate that he sustained only a foot injury from a head-on collision at 60km/h. But those six broken bones have changed Marc’s life.

His foot is highly sensitive to pain and it’s never gone away. The bones have healed, but he’s developed painful arthritis. Even a light touch like the bedsheets resting on his foot causes him enough pain to keep him from sleeping.

What’s worse is there’s no guaranteed cure for his injuries. He could get surgery to fix his condition but there’s a good chance that it wouldn’t help and might only make his injuries hurt more—a risk Marc isn’t willing to take.

“I’m not going to get any better than I am now,” he says.

Besides prescriptions, doctors have done all they can for Marc. He couldn’t lead a normal life without using something to manage his pain and taking something to help him sleep. But that wasn’t so easy for Mark either.

The sleep medication prescribed by his doctor had some adverse side effects. “I didn’t even want to get up in the morning,” he recalls. “It was a weird pill. It didn’t feel good in my stomach.”

Marc didn’t like taking prescriptions so he simply stopped using them. He pushed through the pain as best he could and lived off the few hours of sleep he could manage every night.

As the owner of a small business assembling shelves in new department stores, he was used to working with his hands but he just can’t contribute physically anymore. Even simple tasks cause him extreme pain. “Ladders are my enemy,” he says.

It’s been difficult for him to step away from that part of the job. “It’s hard for me to admit I can’t do something,” he says.

Marc’s injury isn’t just physical. It’s hard on his mental state too. He used to play sports and had to explain to friends that he couldn’t anymore.

Everything was becoming pretty bleak for Marc, and his employees took notice. After months of watching their boss struggle with pain, they suggested he try something: CBD.

Marc was skeptical. He’d never smoked or tried anything cannabis related in his life. He didn’t know anything about it. Just that it was something for stoners.

What’s more, he didn’t want to experience a “high” feeling and was worried about smelling like weed around his clients. As the sole provider for his family and head of his company, he didn’t want to risk a blemish to his professionalism. Legal or not, “getting caught” with cannabis might mean lost contracts and a tarnished reputation.

When his co-workers assured him CBD gummies don’t smell or get you high, he decided to go for it.

“I tried it for two weeks,” he says. “It helped me so much. It helped with the pain and with my head to help focus a little better.”

He says the CBD took the pain from the forefront of his mind. It let him get back to work in a way he hadn’t been able to since before the accident.

The focus let him live more fully and in the present. CBD allowed him to let go of the negative aspects of his injuries a little bit. His life began to brighten again.

After this experience, Marc’s perceptions changed. “I was like wow, I need to look more into this,” he says. “I decided to try the Indica to help me sleep.”

The Indica/CBD edibles helped him get the best sleep he had gotten in months. “I was amazed at how much sleep I could get without waking up,” he says.

Because Marc doesn’t like the high feeling from cannabis, he takes an edible right before bed and sleeps through any high feelings.

Besides a dry mouth he found no side effects. Unlike the prescribed medication, he wasn’t groggy at all when he woke up.

Cannabis has had such a profound impact on Marc’s life that he now advocates its use as therapy, “I’m a firm believer in it,” he says.

“I got my dad on it a couple weeks ago,” explains Marc. “After his doctor gave him the go-ahead.”

Like Marc, his dad had reservations about using cannabis. He was worried how it would mix with his medications and wasn’t sure how cannabis would affect him. He saw trying cannabis as a bit of a risk. But that would soon change.

Marc’s dad had watched his son’s life transform in front of him and Marc’s improvement had been so profound that it was enough for his dad to decide to try cannabis.

Cannabis has had such a profound impact on Marc’s life that he now advocates its use as therapy, “I’m a firm believer in it,” he says.

And it’s working for him. “He used to have bad leg cramps when he woke up,” says Marc about his dad. “And he doesn’t get that anymore.”

Marc is still waiting for the settlement from the car accident. He still needs to decide whether he’ll risk surgery. And partly due to his injuries, he’s also going through a divorce. It’s been tough on his life.

Marc will tell you himself that he’s a thinker. And it’s true. Life put him in an unfortunate situation, and he thought his way through the unfamiliar world of cannabis use. Despite preconceived notions he listened to others and took, what was for him, a calculated risk. And it worked.

Marc is a leader and isn’t afraid to show people how cannabis has helped him. He openly talks about cannabis use on Facebook and says he’s glad to help people.

He hopes that if more voices advocate for cannabis use will inspire others living with pain to rise above their doubts and try something new. Just like Marc and his dad.