My Cannabis Story

Proof That Cannabis Saves Lives

The Early Daze & The High Life

When I was 16, I took graphic art and desktop publishing courses through Vo-Tech (vocational-technical education program) in high school. I was a top student in my class – to a point that I was helping my teacher with her day job – using programs like Adobe Photoshop 5.5, Illustrator 8.0, and PageMaker 6.5 to create business marketing layouts. The rest of school was a bore to me, so I dropped out of high school, got my GED, and maintained my skills with graphic arts and desktop publishing to an extent that I was able to start working.

At age 16, I had what some people would consider a ‘dream job’ – working for my Godfather, who owned an elite talent agency in Annapolis, Maryland. At that time (the early 2000s) we represented some big-named celebrities and some of their kids – as fashion models for the Baby Phat clothing line when it debuted – we even got to fly first class to Miami a few times for spring fashion shows full of Hollywood stars.

I helped design client photo portfolios/talent submission packages and wrote up resumes and work contracts for our clients – among other things. Life was good, I felt like I was living the dream…but then one day…

A Harsh Hit

Unfortunately, tragedy struck and my Godfather (Richard P. Shaw) died unexpectedly. In July 2006, I found him shot to death as I walked into work. Even though there were a few possible suspects, no one was ever brought to justice for this heinous crime. It was something that affected me deeply for a very long time (it’s still an active cold case file #06-730312).

Richard was very close to my family and was very much like a father to me. I mourned his passing deeply. Creativity was the furthest thing from my mind after he was killed. I turned to alcohol to escape the depression I felt, but that just made it worse. I went through years of therapy, counseling, doctors, self-help, etc. Some of that did actually help, but the antidepressants and other medications they prescribed didn’t help. They actually made everything worse – especially mixed with my heavy and steady drinking.

At one point, someone told me that physical work would help me feel better, so I just dropped my graphic design skills and I picked up a lot of knowledge about water treatment and plumbing – and found myself a trade.

Work Hard – Play Harder

Between the ages of 20-33 years old, I did a lot of manual labor. I got a paid apprenticeship with a small company – installing, servicing, and selling residential water treatment systems. The work was hard, but it helped me feel a little better – I was able to really help people – every day – I’d take their water from brown and unusable to crystal clear and drinkable.

Just as with graphic arts, I took to plumbing and water treatment very quickly, and within two years I was doing installs and service calls on my own. Within six years I had become an expert in residential water treatment and well pumps in Anne Arundel County Maryland.

I enjoyed helping people and providing them with a basic essential need – usable drinkable water. I got sent to the service calls that nobody else could figure out. I took the emergency calls nobody else wanted to take. I was really good at what I did! In my years as a service technician, I sold an average of $250,000 worth of new equipment installs each year to new and existing customers.

Over the years, I developed an incredibly keen understanding of reading people – especially in sales situations. That, combined with my plumbing skills, and I should’ve been set… right? Nope.

Over the 13 years, I was doing water treatment and plumbing, I ended up having 22 shoulder dislocations, 2 surgeries, a bad oxycodone dependence, plus a revoked driver’s license from drinking and driving – I was a wreck! I still had a wife and child to provide for, so I found a job close to home waiting tables.

Pass It To The Left & It Will Come Back Around – Full Circle

When I say Covid-19, we all know what happened to restaurant servers in March 2020 right? Well, I had been waiting tables at the same place for almost two years when everything on earth shut down. I had been doing ok for myself – but I didn’t want to go back to waiting tables – I wanted to follow my passion – I wanted to help people.

I started organizing my years of research and knowledge about cannabis in order to help educate people about it, and end the stigmas that still surround it.

When Covid-19 threw us all an uppercut, I lost my job, but with the help of cannabis, I stayed sober and I quickly adapted and reconnected with my old desktop publishing, marketing, and sales skills. I began to immerse myself into the world of web design and build Let’s Enjoy Cannabis to spread the truth about one of the greatest plants on earth!

Most of all – I started to learn a lot – In fact, I became somewhat addicted to learning – and cannabis played a huge role in that! I really feel that Cannabis is the key that Helped Me Change My Life (link to the next part of my story).

In Closing. . .

One of the Most Important Parts of Learning is Sharing Your Knowledge To Help Others

I like to share my story and help inspire others. If my story can help just one person – then mission accomplished!

Using cannabis helped me heal my body and mind, but growing cannabis helped me heal my soul!

The goal of Let’s Enjoy Cannabis is to help other people learn about and truly enjoy cannabis as much as I do!