Andrew Mcewing on Medical Cannabis + Opiates

Andrew McEwing is a Navy veteran, retired farmer, and as an unquestioning conservative, spent most of his life as an avid opponent of cannabis. Living in Northern Vermont and coming from a conservative upbringing, Andrew had fought with alcohol addiction, then after a brutal injury, lost his ability to work as a chef and became dependent on opiate pain-killers to function.

Images courtesy of David Lesperance, dwlesperance@yahoo.com

Never addicted, but in so much pain that Andrew was literally taking a lethal dose of morphine and oxycontin to function and run his beef and chicken farm. Eventually, his AA sponsor, doctor, and wife confronted him to try medical cannabis, a concept which he had previously dismissed as, “just an excuse for the hippies to get high legally’“.

In this conversation, Andrew talks about the impact of cannabis on his overall health — down from 150mg to 60mg of morphine — how it’s impacted his relationships with his family, and how he’s found his way into the Vermont cannabis community as a medical grower for himself, and resource for fellow suffering Vermonters.