Medical cannabis operation helping Hagerstown resident stay healthy, employed

HAGERSTOWN, Md. ( DC News Now ) — One Hagerstown resident battling Lyme disease has found medical relief — and employment — at a local cannabis growing and packaging operation.

Matt Guenter isn’t sure how young he was when he sustained a tick bite. But the pain from the neurological Lyme disease he contracted was unbearable.

“I walked with a cane for about a year and a half and had severe inflammation, brain fog,” said Guenter. “I would forget family and friends’ names.”

But as a Maryland resident, he had access to medical cannabis as an alternative to the opioids he was taking for pain relief.

“I was being prescribed too many opiates and with the opiates I wasn’t really feeling any better,” says Guenter. “They were making me more tired, sick.”

Collin Hart is with the Hagerstown medical cannabis growing and packaging operation, MariMed Inc. which serves as a convenient and pain free alternative to the opioids Guenter was taking.

“Matt was in a situation where he could grow the marijuana himself illegally or put himself at risk just to get a little bit of pain relief,” says Hart. “I’m so glad the world has changed and our state has changed to allow people to get the relief they need.”

While Guenter is now able to reliably and safely treat his pain, he is also gainfully employed at a thriving cannabis operation in his hometown.

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